


Prologue

by rozalty, Springdayvmin



Series: Dimis [1]
Category: ASTRO (Band), B.A.P, BTOB, Block B, SHINee, VIXX, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Elves, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Hybrids, M/M, Magical Realism, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Nymphs & Dryads, Sirens, Soulmates, Spirits, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 05:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13357830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozalty/pseuds/rozalty, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springdayvmin/pseuds/Springdayvmin
Summary: In case of corruption, four boys, all dimis, will come save the world. Four dimis who didn't grow up in the world but represent all four lands; Epiphany, Euphoria, Serendipity, and Singularity.These four boys had no idea that they came from a special world or that each and every one of their parents played a huge part in running the different lands of this world. And now they are randomly brought to the world they didn't know so they could save it.{Or: In which three orphans find that their parents are beings from a magical world and Himchan's just along to criticise everyone and question his life choices.}





	1. Wonder pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> my friend and i came up with this huge world and so we decided to write it and it's crazy i'm telling you
> 
> cross posted on aff
> 
> **edit: as you can see, the title has been changed and tags have been updated. we decided to compile all parts of prologue into one :) **

_ He let out a warrior scream as he pressed forward, sword brandished in one hand to fight the enemy in front of him. His old friend, someone who used to maintain the land that he now took care of, had turned away from the light and become nothing but shadow and darkness and  _ destruction _. _

_ And it still haunted him to this day. _

_ The shadows dissipated with one last stroke, and he knew that he didn’t have much time as he dropped his sword with a loud clang and ran off towards the rocks where his son was hiding. _

_ “It’s okay my love, I’m here.” The man whispered soothingly, glad that the newborn baby didn’t cry with all the noise around him. He cradled his son close and nuzzled his forehead gently, tears sliding down his cheeks as a screech was heard from behind him. _

_ “I wish I had more time with you, my son.” He said, sniffling quietly as he held onto his baby for just a moment longer. With a shaking hand, he pulled off the chain around his neck that held a ring and a locket on it, and he pulled the shard of crystal out of his pocket and placed it into the locket before sliding the necklace around the baby’s neck. The newborn sniffled once before he started crying, and the man let out a tiny breath of wet laughter as his tears kept streaming down his cheeks. _

_ “My sweet Junhongie, appa is so sorry that he couldn’t be with you to watch you grow.” He sobbed, his words barely able to come out as he placed a finger just over his son’s chest. As his finger glowed, the newborn started to shriek loudly, and the man knew that his time was running much shorter with all the noise. _

_ “Never forget that your parents love you very,  _ very _ much.” He said, waving a hand over the baby to get him to calm down. The man bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to the tip of his son’s nose, standing up slowly. He lifted his son into the air with magic and spoke under his breath before the newborn vanished into stardust, sending him to a world away from the battle he was facing, but the man barely had time to mourn before he was surrounded in darkness. _

_ Slowly, the man lifted up his sword and faced the shadow of the man he once knew that walked out, his breathing coming out shakily. _

_ “I will find him, Jonghyun.” The shadow said, a vicious grin on his lips as he stalked forward. “You cannot stop my powers.” _

_ “You’re right.” Jonghyun said, his cheeks gleaming with the stream of his tears as he held the sword out in front of him. “But I can stop  _ you _ , and I will never let you find him.” _

_ With a shout, the shadow brought a hand forward, and darkness immediately spread around Jonghyun. Knowing full well that he wasn’t going to make it, having already died once and been brought back as a spirit, the man drove his sword tip into the ground below him and started chanting a spell under his breath. The darkness pressed in on Jonghyun, but his eyes glowed brightly with the power that ran through his veins. _

_ “I love you, Jinki. I’m sorry.” _

_ And with one sweep of light, both Jonghyun and the shadow were gone. _

* * *

 

“Ma’am, I would love to help you, but I am not seeing what you’re seeing.” Choi Junhong said, trying very hard not to sigh on the microphone of his headset as he looked at his computer screen. He fiddled with the locket and ring he wore around his neck, a habit that he had picked up whenever he felt the need for some comfort. While this didn’t seem like one of those moments, it was always better to feel safe. “You said that you couldn’t get into your account, correct?”

“That’s correct.” The woman on the other line said, and Junhong nodded once as he looked at the login page for Airbnb.

“Since I’m not seeing what you’re seeing, would you mind telling me the URL of the screen you’re on?” Junhong asked, hoping that his voice was polite as the older woman hummed in agreement. There were a few clicks from the phone, and the man waited patiently until she found it.

“Ah yes.” The older woman said, humming happily when she apparently found it. Junhong moved his mouse, ready to type it in as she spoke. “I’m at google dot com slash accounts.”

“I’m sorry, did you say Google?” Junhong said, his voice clearly showing a state of shock. He sat back in his chair and suppressed the urge to let out a groan, done with his shift for the day already.

“Yes sir.” The older woman said, and he ran a hand through his blond hair as he sighed quietly.

“Ma’am, this is customer service for Airbnb.” Junhong said, and the woman on the other line let out a yelp before hanging up. The blond sighed heavily and shook his head, taking off his headset and rubbing his temples slowly. “I can’t believe this.”

“Hey, I know you’ve only got an hour until your shift is up, but we’ve got VTO if you want to take it?” His team leader, Yongnam, asked with a smile, and the blond nodding quickly.

“Yes please. I have to get home quickly anyway — I’m moving out and my roommates said they’d throw anything of mine away if I wasn’t moved out by the end of tonight.” Junhong said, giving Yongnam a nervous smile. His team leader let out a sigh and shook his head, looking at Junhong sympathetically.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Jun. I know that they’re kicking you out because they don’t like you.” Yongnam said, and Junhong shrugged once as he clocked out and logged out of all of his programs. “Be safe driving home, okay? This snow is merciful to nobody.”

* * *

 

“Hey Sanha, you ready to go?” A voice asked, causing the young boy to look up from the book he was reading. He looked up and realized he was alone in the hallway besides his foster parent, Kim Junghwan, who was standing in front of him.

“You’re here,” Yoon Sanha said with a soft smile, gathering his stuff and standing up. “I’m sorry I waited over here. It was just so crowded by the doors and everything.”

“It’s okay,” Junghwan said with a laugh. “I figured you would be in here reading, so I came in. Nothing can get you out of that fiction world, not even a text message.”

“You see, sometimes I wish I could be the main hero of a story,” Sanha said, licking his upper teeth, his tongue running along his braces. “I would love to go on a fun adventure and save the world.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” Junghwan asked, chuckling softly. He guided the young orange haired boy out of the school. Sanha went on about the story he was reading, the Percy Jackson series to be exact, as he re-positioned the glasses that were hanging off his nose. 

When the two made it home, Sanha ran into the apartment, placing a kiss on his other foster parent’s cheek. Seokjin smiled at him and pulled the boy into a small hug. He then led him into the dining room, sitting him down at the table with a plate of Oreo cookies. Sanha grinned at him and thanked him, placing his backpack on the ground. He then opened his bag and pulled out his Calculus book to start his homework. 

“Hey Sanha, do you have a moment?” Seokjin asked, causing the young boy to look up at him. Sanha nodded his head, picking up a cookie and dipping it in a glass of milk. Because he had braces he couldn’t eat cookies, but he found out soaking them in milk made it just soggy enough that he could eat them.

“We want to give you something,” Junghwan told him, picking up a folder from the kitchen counter and placing it on the table. “So today’s your 17th birthday, so we thought this would be a good present for you.”

“Now Sanha, we don’t need you to make an immediate decision,” Seokjin added, “but Junghwan and I have decided that we want to adopt you. And Himchan has agreed to this as well, since you would become part of his family. All we need is your agreement. Please, when you’re ready, either sign these papers or give us the folder back.”

“Oh, wow,” Sanha said in shock, staring at them with wide eyes. “Um… thank you, really. This means a lot to me! But I just need a little time to think it over.”

“Take your time,” Seokjin said with a soft smile. “You don’t need to rush.”

* * *

 

“...and three java chip lattes. Remember, every single one of those coffees is venti except for the tea, which is just a tall. Got it?”

Kim Himchan looked up from his notepad as he finished writing down the orders, giving his boss a slight smile. He bowed once before slipping out the door, tucking his notepad into the inside pocket of his suit.

Working for one of the biggest companies of technology in Seoul was hard enough, and getting orders of coffee for almost a full floor of employees that were all higher than him on the rung was certainly a bit more than he could chew off. However, the fast paced environment was something that Himchan thrived off of, the twenty-seven year old man hoping above anything that he would be working in that office that his boss did one day.

However, once he made it down the street to the Starbucks that was nearby, a sign on the door saying ‘CLOSED’ stopped his good mood. This was not good… at all.

Frantically, Himchan made it back to the office and fidgeted once he was in the elevator, the look in his eyes driving others away from sharing with him as they knew that he was about to walk with shame back out of the building in only a few minutes. Apparently the other worker already knew that it was coming as the doors opened and he didn’t have a cart of cups with him, one other intern — a girl younger than him by a few years at least, from how innocent she looked — offering to pack up his desk for him. Himchan just nodded once and knocked on the door, cracking it open to look at his boss with a panicked gaze.

The incident was still on his mind only thirty minutes later as he sat in the parking garage of his family’s apartment building inside his car, holding onto the steering wheel for a moment before sighing heavily. He was lucky that he had gotten out early anyway, since he had needed to go buy Sanha’s birthday present. With that thought in mind, Himchan smiled to himself and grabbed the wrapped present before getting out of the car, quickly running up one flight of stairs to get to their apartment.

“I’m home!” Himchan said, entering the warm apartment with a smile. He passed by Seokjin in the kitchen and leaned forward to kiss his cheek, smiling as he slid into the chair beside Sanha. He held up the wrapped gift and held it open, looking at his (hopefully soon) younger brother with a fond expression. “Happy birthday, Sanha-yah.”

“Hyung, you really didn’t have to!” Sanha said, setting down his pencil to take the gift from Himchan.

“I wanted to. Come on, open it already.” Himchan said, ruffling the younger boy’s orange hair as both hands were full. That action gave him a look from Sanha, but the boy ignored it as he tore open the present. He stared at it for a few moments, and Himchan bit his lip.

“It’s an empty photo album for now, of course. But I figured that you could add pictures of your family in there.” Himchan said softly, watching the younger boy with a nervous expression on his face. “It doesn’t have to be any of us, of course, but —”

“I love it.” Sanha said, setting down the photobook and launching forward to hug Himchan tightly, long arms wrapping around his hyung’s neck. “I know just the picture to put in the first spot.”

“I can’t wait to see it.” Himchan said, closing his eyes as he held onto the younger boy.

He really hoped Sanha signed those adoption papers.

* * *

 

Park Minhyuk groaned as the coach had them run through the hallways yet again in single file. It was the third lap around the school and he swore he passed his best friend, Sanha, in this same hallway, but now he was nowhere to be seen. These laps around the school were getting absolutely annoying. He wanted to be outside, with the fresh air blowing in his face. Who cared if it was like 30 degrees outside anyway.

“Coach,” Minhyuk said, jogging up to the man at the front of the crowd. “It’s like the middle of March! We should be outside! We’ve been running these halls all winter!”

“It’s a danger hazard, Mr. Park,” the coach told him. “There’s a winter storm outside and it’s extremely icy. Someone could get hurt.”

“But sir! This is cross country!” Minhyuk cried out. “We should be able to run in all conditions!”

“Because these are my rules,” the coach said as the whole team passed them. “Do you have an issue with my rules?”

“You bet I do,” Minhyuk hissed as sweat dripped down his face, his light brown hair covering his eyes. 

“Then you can get off my team,” the coach said, turning away and jogging after the team. “Turn your uniform in first thing tomorrow morning, Mr. Park.”

“You’re fucking lucky I’m a senior!” Minhyuk shouted after him. “If I wasn’t, I would run a petition to get your ass kicked out of this school! I never liked you!”

He angrily watched as the team slowly ran out of sight. He knew that the coach was probably going to talk to the principal again, and Minhyuk was probably going to be put in detention once again. But he could honestly care less. He was used to the constant chats he had with the principal about his anger issues and his terrible temper. And although he felt bad for his foster parents, he knew he would probably never change.

Minhyuk sighed and headed towards his locker that was on the other side of the hall, not even caring about going down to the locker rooms to grab his clothes. He opened his locker and took out his hoodie, pulling it over his head. He then grabbed his phone and stuffed it into his pocket and threw his almost empty backpack over his shoulder. He then made his way to the library, knowing it was four thirty and he had another hour and a half or so until someone was going to pick him up. He sighed heavily, knowing he should probably get to work on his homework.

As he made it to the library, he had the perfect idea. He knew his mythology class was going to have a final essay coming up and he figured he should get started on it. He always ended up procrastinating on his essays and this one was going to be harder to do. The wanted them to research into worlds that may or may not have existed and write an essay about the world. With that in mind, Minhyuk rushed over to the mythology section of the library. 

He then proceeded to spend an hour searching through each book to find the perfect one. He wanted a place no one has ever heard about. After going through almost every book, however, he felt like he wanted to give up. He groaned and picked up a random book that weighed about ten pounds and looked like an old encyclopedia. He then walked over to the counter where the librarian was standing and checked out the book. He didn’t even notice the cover until he was sitting down at a table, the book right in front of him. It had gold text carved into the brown cover that read “Prologue: The World of Wonder; Her; Answer; and Tear”.


	2. Wonder pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every odd chapter has all four perspectives of the main characters, while the even chapters have junhong and rocky's perspective along with two others that exist in the world
> 
> enjoy :)

_ Seokjin sat in the palace gardens with Taehyung and Jimin, both very close boys of the man. Seokjin was the current ruler of Serendipity, the land where relationships were valued more than anything. Under him was Taehyung, the son of the Guardian of Serendipity. Taehyung’s Other Half, otherwise known as his life bonded partner, was Jimin. Jimin was working out a spy network to help connect each of the lands and keep an eye on what was really going on. Jimin was Seokjin’s most trusted friend. In a perfect world, this paragraph would be correct. _

_ Instead, Seokjin was mortal now. Sure, he was spending time with Taehyung and Jimin, but he was in disguise since he wasn’t supposed to be in Prologue much less Serendipity, and they were hidden away in a corner of the gardens that Namjoon didn’t go to. Some of it was correct, of course — Jimin and Taehyung were together, and Jimin was working on becoming the strongest Spymaster in Prologue. Taehyung was supposed to be the rightful leader, but Namjoon took over from him while appealing to Minho (and Minho had a terrible illness at the moment, so he couldn’t question anything). _

_ Seokjin was talking with the two boys, letting the soft summer breeze hit his skin. It was a beautiful day, one Seokjin really believed wouldn’t be ruined by anything. However, he couldn’t be more wrong. He was mid sentence, going on about something he noticed one of his co workers from Earth doing (he couldn’t understand why anybody would steal office supplies, but it wasn’t his business and he refused to get involved), when it happened. He felt a huge surge of pain in his heart, as if a part of himself were dying. The blond man grabbed his chest in agony, curling up into a ball on the ground as he cried out. He felt Jimin and Taehyung’s hands on him as they tried to figure out what was going on, or how they could help him. But no one could help him out of this.  _

_ “What’s going on?” Taehyung asked as the pain slowly left his chest, leaving a feeling of emptiness in Seokjin’s heart. The blond immediately knew what happened, what the pain was, and it didn’t help the tears that were now falling down his cheeks.  _

_ “I felt it,” Seokjin whispered, his whole body shaking as he tried to control his sobs. “My brother is… gone.” _

_ “Jonghyun?” Jimin asked, causing the older boy to nod his head. “As in the Guardian of Epilogue?” _

_ “Yes, Jonghyun,” Seokjin whispered, closing his eyes. “He’s… He’s dead.” _

_ “Jin…” _

_ “Jimin,” Seokjin said, taking a deep breath and trying to compose himself. “Can I trust you with something?” _

_ “What?” Jimin asked, sitting up straight. “Of course you can.” _

_ “You’ve been trying to find a way to gain the Guardians’ trust,” Seokjin said. “Please. Bring this news to the Guardians. You… you’re the only one who can do this.” _

_ Jimin, knowing that the Guardians didn’t know of Seokjin’s existence in their world since he had left years ago, nodded, realising that this was going to be one of the hardest things he needed to do. _

* * *

 

Junhong pulled up to the school in his white pick-up truck and sighed heavily as he parked by the sidewalk, pulling his phone out of his pocket to send a text to Minhyuk. He hummed along to a song on the radio — something Western that was popular with his co workers, he thought her name was Beyonce maybe — as he typed, his head swaying back and forth.

**[ To : Hyukkie ]** **  
** **\- Hey kid, I’m here to pick you up. I’m at the front of the building. -**

The blond tucked his phone away into his back pocket and sighed softly, running a hand through his curly blond hair. He had been lucky enough to come home to an empty apartment, the five other roommates living there doing god knows what, and packing away all of his things into the back of his truck was easy. He didn’t need to take the mattress and bedframe with him, as Junghwan had already set one up in the basement for him where he would be staying (and he had fought against that so hard, but Junghwan had just given him puppy eyes and a tiny pout and  _ insisted _ on taking care of Junhong, to the point where he was almost doing aegyo and the blond took it only to get him to stop).

Junhong’s phone rang loudly then to break him from his thoughts, a Shinhwa song blaring in the otherwise silent car, and he groaned loudly at the thought of talking out loud into a phone  _ again _ before bringing it to his ear and taking the call.

“Hello?” He greeted, resisting the urge to answer with the script for his job just to be a dork (and really, it was always the best time to do it whenever Himchan called, the other usually having an outrageous reaction that showed just how  _ done _ he was with Junhong’s shit).

“Hyung, can you stop by the usual takeaway place and get some chicken?” Sanha’s voice said, and Junhong pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the caller ID — Seokjin’s phone, of  _ course _ it was, since Sanha seemed to be an abnormal teenager and forgot where his phone was and how to charge it, apparently — before answering the question presented to him.

“Enough for the six of us?” Junhong asked, looking towards the front of the school as he waited for Minhyuk. It wasn’t time for track to be let out yet, as far as he know, but the younger was already coming out with his backpack.

“Yes please, six tubs of fried chicken. Appa said he’d pay you back when you get home.” Sanha said, not giving Junhong a chance to answer as he hung up. The blond man sighed and looked up when Minhyuk slid into the car, giving the other a soft smile.

“Hey Hyukkie. We’re going to get some chicken first, and then back to Seokjin and Junghwan’s place. You good with that?” Junhong asked, always having felt a closer connection with this boy rather than the other two, who were practically already brothers.

“Sounds good to me.” Minhyuk said, nodding once as he buckled up. His backpack sat in between his legs on the floor, and the blond waited until Minhyuk was safely in the car before driving off towards the chicken place for Sanha’s birthday dinner.

* * *

 

“So, Hyukkie,” Junhong said as the four boys all gathered in Minhyuk’s bedroom that night, chicken, soda, and Minhyuk’s library book all sitting in the middle of the floor. Minhyuk sat down and grabbed a piece of chicken, looking up at the older boy. “Why did you get out of track so early?”

“I got kicked off the team,” Minhyuk replied, causing everyone to stare at him in shock. “I didn’t like the way coach was running things and so he kicked me off. If graduation wasn’t in like a month I’d probably be suspended when I go to school tomorrow.”

“What did you say?” Himchan asked in disapproval, causing Minhyuk to let out a deep sigh.

“I kinda cussed at him in anger,” Minhyuk admitted, in which Himchan and Sanha frowned at him. Junhong just laughed and high-fived him.

“Dude, he deserves it,” Junhong said. “That guy is a douche!”

“You need to be careful, hyung,” Sanha said, causing Minhyuk to roll his eyes. “You’re eighteen already and you’re weeks away from graduation! What if you can’t graduate?”

“I’ll graduate,” Minhyuk said before glancing down at his book. “Anyway, guys, look at this. I found this book about a world called Introduction or something. I don’t know, it just popped out at me. And like, I didn’t see it before, and I  _ swore _ the place it was in had a different book in its place, and like magic it appeared. And that’s stupid cause magic doesn’t exist but it was there!”

“You probably weren’t paying attention, like right now,” Junhong said, glancing down at the book. “The book says Prologue, not Introduction. Dude, learn to read.”

“What?” Minhyuk said with a frown. “I swear seconds ago it said Introduction!”

“Hyung, it’s  _ obvious _ you weren’t paying attention.” Sanha said, rolling his eyes and opening the book to a random page. The page had a heading that said Serendipity; The Land of Relationships. “What is Serendipity?”

“Apparently a land of relationships,” Minhyuk said, rolling his eyes. “Run by a group called ‘The Family’. It says there’s six rulers.”

“It is run by the guardian, Her.” Himchan said, reading through the page and flipping it over to see a picture of a large white palace with a beautiful garden. “Guys, is this even real?”

“Where did you find this book?” Junhong asked, flipping through pages and scanning each one he turned to. “It seems like some knock off version of Greek Mythology.”

“Well I did find it in the Mythology section.” Minhyuk answered. “I don’t know, I found it interesting.”

The four boys continued to talk about the book, discussing different details they found. Junhong continued to question if it was real, and Sanha went off about how cool he found everything. Himchan stayed quiet, analyzing the book and even writing some notes down in a notebook he brought with him. Minhyuk, not really listening to his friends, just insisted that magic wasn’t real and that this whole book was stupid. He started to question why he picked it up in the first place. He would have done much better with doing a random essay on Greek Mythology or something.

Soon enough, the four of them fell asleep one by one, their chicken tubs full of the empty bones and soda cans scattered around the floor. The book that was left open next to the now sleeping Sanha fluttered open to a page that said the Palace of Tears with the picture of a large castle. Minhyuk, although in his sleep, felt a small shimmer but thought nothing of it as he let himself fall into dreamland.

* * *

 

“Eomma, are we getting anymore dinner today? I’m so  _ hungry _ .” Kihyun said, and Kyung looked down at his plate to where the measly piece of bread and a pile of mush (he didn’t want to know what was in it, honestly). “It doesn’t seem like we got as much as we usually do.”

Usually each slave got a meal big enough to sustain them, Kihyun more so since he was just a small kitten. But Kyung had been scolded by his mistress when he had shown up five minutes late to her bedroom that morning, and his meals had been cut back. Kihyun’s meals that day hadn’t been touched until dinner, but Kyung couldn’t say anything about it lest he get whipped again — and sleeping with welts in his back was uncomfortable enough, but the way the Priestesses made Kihyun  _ watch _ the abuse that was given to him was just wrong. They hadn’t cared about the consequences for whipping him when he was carrying Kihyun as well, and it was really only the pleading from Jaehyo that allowed Kyung to keep Kihyun in the first place.

With a soft sigh as he resigned himself to going hungry for the night, Kyung pushed his plate of food over to the small kitten, smiling gently when he saw how enthusiastic Kihyun was as he dug into the measly helping of food (and he could tell by the way that his soft white ears perked up from his head, his tail swishing happily behind him). Jaehyo gave him a look of pity and handed over a small piece of bread when the guards weren’t looking, looking back over to Kihyun with a fond expression in his eyes. Kyung was suddenly struck with the realisation that Jaehyo was a father as well, remembering that Taeil had just had a child before they were imprisoned, and his heart hurt for the other. He knew Jaehyo would be a good father, once they got out of there.

Fat chance of that.

“Have you seen Minhyuk-hyung today?” Kyung asked in a soft voice, making sure the name of his friend wasn’t heard by his son as the small boy ate. Out of the three of them, Kihyun purposely doted on Minhyuk the most, recognising that the other was much hurt than Kyung and Jaehyo were about being imprisoned. Jaehyo made a face at the question and shook his head, finishing his food quickly before replying.

“This one’s really got him worn out.” Jaehyo said, sighing softly. “I overheard a doctor saying that this was probably going to be the last one he could carry. I pray for his sake that this child’s a girl, so he doesn’t get killed.”

They’d been imprisoned for fifty-five years, taken from their Other Halves and turned into slaves for the Priestesses of Singularity to use. Kyung was usually an assistant for the three Priestesses, since the Priestesses had the barest hint of a soft spot for a rare cat hybrid like him; Jaehyo becoming a doctor since he was originally from Epiphany, Land of Knowledge; but Minhyuk got the shortest stick of them all. Ageing slowly was something that they all usually coveted in a world filled with magic, but becoming pregnant lasted a mere nine months. Kihyun was the equivalent of a five year old boy, being a fifty-four year old kitten. Ever since they were imprisoned, however, the Priestesses used Minhyuk’s good looks to their advantage and made him one of their carrier slaves, the other man never getting a break as he was pregnant all the time. He had probably had about fifty children that he had never met, each boy taken to be killed instantly while the girls were kept alive (they couldn’t have a male taking on the title of Priestess in the future, now could they?), and each pregnancy drew him further and further away from the Minhyuk they knew and loved.

“Eomma, do you think that I’ll ever get to meet appa?” Kihyun said, looking up at Kyung with eyes that were both familiar and heartbreaking at the same time. Kyung smiled gently, brushing Kihyun’s hair back and kissing his forehead softly as he registered how  _ sad _ the question was.

They never should have been separated from Jiho.

“Of course we will, Kihyunnie. Don’t you doubt eomma, okay?” The brunette man said, smiling as Kihyun snuggled into his side with a soft purr. His stomach growled with hunger, but he ignored it as he looked up at Jaehyo.

“They’re saying that this time he might pass in labour.” Jaehyo whispered so Kihyun wouldn’t hear, and Kyung’s face paled. “But after this, he’s not going to be able to have a kid with Yukwonnie if we ever see him again. His body can’t take it anymore, even with all the magic surging through his veins. I just don’t know if either of them will be able to handle that kind of burden mentally, Kyungie. You know how much Kwonnie wants children.”

Kyung understood Jaehyo’s concerns perfectly, nodding once as he looked down and buried his face in the soft pink hair on his son’s head. And it was so hard, for Kyung, to have to raise this tiny kitten without his Other Half beside him helping him out. He missed Jiho so damn much, but he knew exactly why they hadn’t been rescued yet, remembering the terms that the Priestesses had put on Block B before suddenly raiding them in the middle of the night and taking half of them.

He only hoped that someone would come soon to free both him and his Other Half.

* * *

 

“What should I say to them?” Jimin asked, looking over at his best friend’s son as they sat at the large table that was full of breakfast food. “What should I tell  _ him _ ? Bin, it’s been 180 years and this is my first time meeting him. I’m so nervous! Jinki wants me to talk to them about their mission, but I don’t know how I’m going to keep myself from breaking down in front of him. Do you think he’s going to be angry?”

“Well if it were  _ me  _ in his position, than yeah, I would be angry,” Bin answered, shrugging his shoulders. “But you never know. You have to give it a chance.”

“You’re right,” Jimin said, biting his lip. “And how do I explain Tae?” 

“I honestly can’t tell you,” Bin said sympathetically. “But it will all be okay. Things will get better. I know they will. Just give it some time.”

“You’re right,” Jimin breathed out. “So… How do I break it to four boys that they have to save the world?”

“Well, don’t come out and just say it,” Bin stated, picking up a piece of toast. “Be more gentle. I mean, this isn’t even their world. They’re going to be extremely confused and probably very scared. You’ll have to lay it on them very slowly.”

“Fuck, you’re right,” Jimin said, glancing towards the door as he heard footsteps coming towards them. “Do you think Seokjin told them about the world?”

“Seokjin?” Bin asked, shaking his head. “Probably not. He left to get away. Seokjin isn’t like your parents, Jimin. I don’t think he brought his son up in teaching him about this world. If I was raising a kid in a world this messed up, then I would be ashamed. This is why I hope the world is put back together when Dongmin has our kid.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Jimin said, watching the door as someone came closer. “Hopefully these four can do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, let us know what you think in the comments, and we will see you next week!


	3. Wonder pt. 3

_ Seokjin hadn’t been the only one to feel Jonghyun’s death. _

_ Being his Other Half, Jinki immediately felt the snapping of their bond, his heart instantly shattering as he knew what it meant. He brought a hand up to clutch his chest, sinking to the floor and ignoring the questions that the others in this meeting directed towards him as he felt a wave of nothing but numbness coming over him. _

_ “Jonghyun…” The Guardian whispered, his dark eyes welling up with tears as the people in the room silenced. It was almost obvious what had happened, and Jinki could barely register the feeling of thin arms belonging to Jonghyun’s personal servant, Yerim, before he had pretty much blacked out. _

_ The next time he woke up, he was laying in his bed with the room completely empty save for him. Jinki let out a shaky breath and brought his left hand up to his chest, the ring on his finger shining brightly in the moonlight that came in through his window. _

_ “I miss you.” Jinki said, touching the ring on his finger gently. He realised that it was not only Jonghyun he had lost, but his unborn son as well, and a new wave of tears overcame him. He buried his face into the pillow and cried heavily, his heart aching for the loss of the two people that he loved the most. _

_ “We were going to name you Junhong.” Jinki whispered to himself, his hands shaking as he gripped onto the pillow that his face was buried in — it still had Jonghyun’s scent on it, if he tried hard enough to focus on it. “My precious Junhongie, my only child. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you two.” _

_ He fell into a fitful sleep after sobbing once more, his ring shining brightly in the moonlight. In his sleep, he didn’t see that the ring was shining brightly, the person on the other end of it in distress even though Jonghyun didn’t have it in his possession anymore. _

* * *

 

Junhong woke up naturally, the sun shining in from the window. He brought both arms up above his head and stretched them with a long, drawn out groan, rubbing his eyes before keeping them open to stare up at the ceiling…

That was not familiar.

He had slept over enough times at Seokjin and Junghwan’s house to remember what the ceiling looked like, and he was certain that it wasn’t grey stone. The blond man sat up quickly and looked around with concern in his dark eyed gaze, not recognising any of his surroundings. Junhong slipped out of the bed and whimpered quietly, realising that he wasn’t even wearing his own clothing.

“Excuse me, sir, but please calm down.” A soft voice said, and Junhong turned his head to see a smaller man standing by the doorway. “I promise that everything will be explained to you soon, but in the meantime, let me help you dress.”

“What is this place?” Junhong said, looking at the other with nothing but fear in his eyes at this point. Instantly, his hand came up to his neck to wrap long fingers around the ring that glowed against his skin, and the servant’s eyes flickered down to it curiously before looking back up at him.

“My name is Jiyong. Please, let me help you dress.” The servant — Jiyong — said, and the taller of the two nodded once and sat back down on the edge of the bed. Appeased at his actions, Jiyong made his way to a large wardrobe on one side of the room, rifling through it before pulling out a mostly black outfit. The servant moved towards the bed and held up the pants with a smile, holding them out to Junhong.

“I thought you were going to help me dress?” Junhong said, a slight smile on his lips as he stood up to shimmy out of the pyjamas. He was thankful that they had at least kept his boxers on, and Jiyong snickered as he gave the black pants to the taller.

“You’re from Earth, right? From my travels, you Earth natives don’t exactly do this kind of thing.” Jiyong said, tilting his head to the side as he moved to pick up the shirt. Junhong hummed in agreement as he slid into the pants, watching with fascination as they shifted to fit him properly. “Magic is cool, right?”

“Yeah.” The blond said, lifting his head up to look at the servant. “Oh, my name is Junhong, by the way. Choi Junhong, if you guys are into surnames in this… castle?”

At his words, Jiyong took in a sharp breath, and Junhong looked up from the shirt that was now in his hands to the suddenly pale face of the servant. The taller man simply raised an eyebrow, slipping out of the shirt he was wearing to pull on the long sleeved one he had been given. Jiyong’s eyes were immediately drawn to the ring on the chain around his neck, and Junhong watched as the other swallowed heavily.

“Junhong, you say? That’s not exactly a common name.” Jiyong said, clearing his throat and ignoring that his voice was now a higher pitch as he went to help Junhong with the red, scaly vest that he had picked out. “Your parents give that to you?”

“They think so. I’m an orphan.” Junhong said, putting the strange reaction to the back of his mind as he attempted to help the servant with the buckles on the vest. He gave up quickly, watching as Jiyong went to get him a pair of boots and sitting at the edge of the bed once more. These were much easier to get on, and soon he was standing up straight again. The servant leading him out of the room.

“I’m sure they had their reasons.” Jiyong said, his voice knowing as he led the other throughout the corridors of the palace. Once they reached a pair of double doors, the servant opened them and motioned for Junhong to go through. “Nice to meet you, Junhong.” And with that, Jiyong disappeared.

Junhong took in a deep breath and walked through the double doors, smiling when he saw Sanha, Minhyuk, and Himchan sitting at a large table. He hesitated in moving forward when he saw two unfamiliar faces, but the blond eventually allowed himself to sink into the empty chair in between Minhyuk and one unfamiliar face with a slight bow of the head.

“Hello, I’m Choi Junhong.” He said politely, both hands folding together in his lap as he looked at the other. The taller one had chin length wavy hair with a gentle, warm smile on his lips, and the shorter man had soft blond hair and full lips on an unreadable face. “Nice to meet you.”

“Wonderful to meet you as well, Junhong. My friend here is Jimin, and my name is Onew. But please, call me Jinki.” The wavy haired man said, and Junhong ducked his head shyly. “Eat, don’t be shy. I’m sure you’re hungry, you slept a long while.”

“Thank you.” Junhong said, humming softly as he picked up his fork. He started to eat quickly, ignoring the snickers that came from Minhyuk and Sanha as he did so.

“You know, my love and I were going to name our son Junhong.” Jinki said, but Junhong was still too tired to point out the coincidence. He hummed softly to show that he was listening, a stray hand coming up to his neck to touch the ring again. “But he died. My love and our son did. That’s why we need your help, Junhong. Your help and the others. Jimin will explain.”

* * *

 

Sanha stared at Jimin, whose eyes never left Minhyuk. He didn’t understand what the short man’s fascination with his friend was. He then glanced down at his plate, still confused on why he was here. When Jinki said that Jimin would explain, all Sanha could think about was the questions he was going to ask. Like, were they still on Earth? Or, where was Seokjin and Junghwan? He really didn’t understand.

“Hello guys,” the blond man said, catching Sanha’s attention. “My name is Jimin. My name on Earth is Park Jimin. I —”

“What do you mean by on Earth?” Minhyuk blurted out, causing Sanha to snicker and Himchan to glare at him. “Are we not on Earth anymore?”

“See what you get for saying magic isn’t real?” Junhong asked. 

“I didn’t say that,” Minhyuk said in denial.

“Hyung, you insisted over and over again that magic didn’t exist!” Sanha said, laughing at his friend as he flushed in embarrassment. Sanha then glanced back at Jimin, who was staring fondly at Minhyuk. He didn’t seem phased at all that Minhyuk had interrupted him.

“I’m sorry for my friend’s rude interruption.” Himchan said, frowning in disapproval at Minhyuk. “Please continue.”

“He wasn’t rude,” Jimin dismissed with a wave, his tone light. “He was just curious. But no, Minhyuk. You’re not on Earth anymore. Right now you’re in the Palace of Tears. Jinki is the Guardian of the land Singularity. And this is his home. We…”

“Don’t tell me this is some whacked up dream of that world Introduction.” Minhyuk said with a groan.

“Prologue, Hyung,” Sanha said, correcting him easily. “It’s called Prologue.”

“You know of Prologue?” Jimin asked with wide eyes. “Did Seokjin tell you…?”

“You know Seokjin?” Sanha said, even more confused. Jimin slowly nodded his head, clearing his throat.

“Um, you four are here today… because we need your help.” Jimin said, nervously wringing his hands. “You four are special because… you’re not human. You’re known as  _ dimis _ . Each of you have a parent, or two, who are what you would call gods in one of the four lands: Serendipity, where I come from, Singularity, Euphoria, and Epiphany. I honestly don’t know who your parents are, other than yours, Himchan; Seokjin was a very close friend of mine. Anyway, our world is going through a serious corruption and everything is falling to pieces. Evil energy is spewing out of Epilogue, and we need to get in to find the cause of it. We need you —”

“Epilogue?” Minhyuk asked with raised eyebrows, causing Sanha to smack his arm. “There’s a fifth place?”

“Yes, there is.” Jimin replied. “It was locked up by the Guardian, Jonghyun, after he passed away in his battle against the evil being, Chaos. When he closed off Epilogue, he split the crystal he had that acted as the key to the land into twelve pieces. Your job is to find the twelve pieces and bring them together. The other part is… each land is corrupted by darkness. Each land also has two crystals each. You must find both crystal shards as well as fix the corruption of each land before you can move on to the next. I can give you clues about Serendipity, because I am the God of Truth from that land. Serendipity is run by a corrupted leader by the name of Namjoon. The only thing is… Namjoon can only be defeated by his son, known to us only as MJ. To fix Serendipity, you must find him. To fix the other three worlds, you must find the twelve crystal shards and combine them to get into Epilogue and defeat the main source of corruption. At the moment, we only know him as ‘The Holy Being’.”

“Do you know who has the crystals?” Sanha asked, causing Jimin to shake his head.

“Two  _ dimis _ in each land have a crystal. The four of you each carry a crystal as well. It could be everyday wear,” Jimin said. “Like you Sanha. One of your glasses lenses is a crystal.”

“What?” Sanha said, placing his hand to his glasses in surprise. “How can you tell?”

“I know those crystals anywhere.” Jimin said with a smile. “Now for your mission, I’ll be sending you with a guide. Meet Bin, my most trusted companion and my right hand man. He’s my best friend Jungkook’s son. And he’ll be with you every step of the way. He has one of the two crystals from Serendipity and he will help you get through each land. He’ll keep you safe.”

* * *

 

Himchan narrowed his eyes as Jimin finished his explanation, looking between Jinki at the head of the table, who was silent and looking down, all the way to Sanha, who was hanging onto every word that was coming out of Jimin’s mouth. He folded his hands together and shook his head slowly, pushing his plate away from him and shaking his head.

“How is any of this even possible?” Himchan asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at Jimin. The other man opened his mouth to respond, but Himchan held up a hand to stop him. “This sounds all great and everything; really, you did an amazing job of telling us this amazing story you’ve written, but unfortunately we need to get going back home. My fathers are going to be waiting for me.”

“I mean, it does sound kinda fishy, now that you mention it.” Junhong said, his voice tapering off softly as he tilted his head to the side. His curly blonde hair flopped with him, and Himchan watched curiously as a flash of something unreadable went through Jinki’s dark eyes. “I mean, this just seems all coincidental to me.”

“How is that?” Jimin asked, and Himchan took over from Junhong as the younger gave him a pleading look.

“I mean, we wake up in an unfamiliar place, apparently not on Earth anymore, three orphans and an intern who just got  _ fired _ needing someone to come to their rescue. And here you two are, one of you a supposed Guardian who lost his husband and child — who, by the way, has the same name as my tall and adorable dongsaeng Junhong over here — to a fight against a ‘darkness named Chaos’,  _ real  _ creative by the way. And Park Jimin, the God of Truth from  _ Serendipity  _ of all places, talks about killing someone while looking at my second adorable dongsaeng Minhyuk over here as fondly as a father when everybody who’s ever encountered him for more than a moment  _ knows _ that Park Minhyuk’s biggest dream is to find his parents and be a perfectly happy family. I’m sorry if I’m offending you by thinking this is all fake, but where exactly do Sanha and I fit into all of this? I just want to go home and search the Internet to find a new interning job for another good business company so I can put my one Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees to proper use.”

Himchan took in a deep breath, and he registered a shocked expression from Jinki before slow clapping from across the table caught his attention. Everyone’s faces turned quickly over to Jimin, who was chuckling to himself as he pushed his chair back from the table in a laid back manner.

“Do you not believe that a God of Truth would not lie to you?” Jimin asked, and Himchan scoffed quietly. At these noises, Junhong whimpered silently, his fist turning white from the tight grip he had on the ring around his necklace (and Himchan  _ knew _ what it meant for him to be doing that, having known this precious dongsaeng since that fateful day at the ice cream shop almost twenty years ago), and he barely had time to see the bright glowing coming from the ring on Jinki’s finger before a clearing of the throat sounded from behind him.

“Sir, I brought you the crystal shards you asked for?” A boy said, standing at just Himchan’s height with ruffled brown hair, and Jimin got up from the table to take it easily.

“I can prove to you that this is real, Himchan.” Jimin said, patting the boy on the back as he moved around the table. Himchan watched silently as the shorter man stopped just beside Minhyuk, Jimin lifting his sleeve to reveal a deep red tattoo on his skin. It was small and placed in the centre of his left forearm, a single circle there, although it was separated into almost perfect halves, and the halves were just slightly off centre from one another. Jimin ran two fingers just over it, and it glowed brightly, the same shape and glow coming from Minhyuk’s left arm.

“What does that mean?” Junhong said, his voice having lowered to an awed hush as he looked at it with wide eyes.

“It means that they are of the same blood.” Jinki said, his voice slightly hoarse as he spoke up. Himchan turned to look at the eldest man, seeing the weary smile on his lips as he lifted a sleeve to reveal his own red tattoo — a circle like Jimin’s, but with teardrops seemingly falling down from the circle all the way down to his hand. “Whenever someone from the same bloodline activates the marking, everybody in the bloodline will have theirs glow as well. It doesn’t show up on anybody who is on Earth, so that’s why Minhyuk’s has not shown up until now.”

“That means…” Minhyuk started, swallowing heavily before looking up at Jimin standing beside him with wide eyes. “We’re related?”

“Yes it does.” Jimin said, placing a gentle hand on Minhyuk’s shoulder as the glowing from their tattoos started to decrease until it was completely gone, the dark red standing out against both of their skin. “Minhyuk, I am your father.”

* * *

 

Minhyuk sat in shock as the rest of the conversation went on, taking in everything Jimin had said. His father? Jimin was his  _ father _ ? The brown haired boy honestly never thought he would ever find his parents. He didn’t know that they were from a different  _ world _ . And suddenly he was the son of a  _ god.  _ A god from a book just less than 24 hours ago he was reading about.

He was so spaced out that he didn’t notice everyone was getting up and leaving. He only came back from his thoughts when Junhong tapped on his shoulder to gain the boy’s attention, and Minhyuk looked over at him as the blond gave him a sympathetic smile. He frowned in confusion as everyone left, not exactly in the right mind, his hand covering the blood mark on his arm.

“What’s going on?” Minhyuk asked his friend, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“They told us to go spend some time together so we can all process what was said.” Junhong said, tilting his head to the side. “We’re all heading up to the library.”

“Oh, okay,” Minhyuk said, nodding his head in confirmation.

“Are you going to be okay?” Junhong asked, causing the boy to sigh and bite his lip.

“I don’t know,” Minhyuk admitted. “This is all just so sudden, I-I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I’m glad you found your father,” Junhong said just as Jimin walked up to them. The taller blond went silent and looked down at the other man, smiling shyly.

“Can I have a word with Minhyuk?” Jimin asked, his voice soft but firm. Junhong looked over at Minhyuk, who slowly nodded his head.

“I’ll be in the library,” Junhong said before running off after the rest of the groups. Jimin took a hold of Minhyuk’s wrist, pulling him off to the side.

“Hey,” Jimin said, catching eye contact with the younger boy. “This is not how I imagined you would find out who I was. I’m sorry it took so long for me to appear to you. It’s been a really hard time for me. You’re eighteen years old? Here you would be a hundred-eighty. I’ve been waiting a hundred-eighty years to see your face.”

“Why’d you wait so long?” Minhyuk said, hurt lacing his tone. He ignored the fact that Jimin pretty much said that he was a hundred and eighty years old. “Why’d you send me away?”

“It was the only way I could save you from Namjoon. Because you were made out of love.” Jimin said, shaking his head. “Namjoon was against love and would turn anyone to stone if they were caught. Me and your father, Taehyung, we were in love. But we had to stay hidden. Only a few people knew about us.”

“You  _ were  _ in love?” Minhyuk asked, picking up on what his father said. “What do you mean by that?”

“Taehyung… passed away before you were born,” Jimin said, closing his eyes slowly. Minhyuk could see the pain in his features, and in turn he felt that pain inside of him as well. “He didn’t know you were going to be born. And after he died… I had to get you to safety, because if something were to happen to me, well, I couldn’t let you be exiled from Serendipity. You mean the world to me, Minhyuk. After Taehyung died, you were all I had left. So I brought you down to Earth, asking the orphanage to name you Park Minhyuk. Because my surname is Park and Taehyung always wanted a son named Minhyuk. I wanted to honor his last wishes, because you will always be a piece of him.”

“So you’re my only family?” Minhyuk said, feeling a surge of love for this man in his heart. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he thought about what happened to his other father. “What happened to Taehyung?”

“I don’t know,” Jimin said, honestly. “I have no idea what happened to him. And I wish I did… but I am not your only family member. You have an uncle out there. Taehyung’s twin brother. His name is Baekhyun. Taehyung and Baekhyun are the sons of Minho, Guardian of Serendipity. So there’s still pieces of Taehyung out there if you ever need them. And there are more people in the family — believe me, your father has a  _ big _ family from everything he’s told me — but I’ve only met Baekhyun and their father, Minho. If you ever need Baekhyun, call his name, and he will come to you.”

“Okay, I will.” Minhyuk said, nodding his head as he took in all this new information.

“And before I forget.” Jimin said, taking off a necklace with a crystal shard from around his neck and placing it around his son’s with gentle fingers. “This is your piece of the crystal. Please be careful out there. I already lost you once, Minhyuk. I can’t go through that pain again.”

“I’ll be careful,” Minhyuk assured him as Jimin pulled him into a hug, his own arms tightening around the blond. “I’ll come back to you.”


	4. Wonder pt. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you have probably already noticed, the italic sections at the beginning are flashbacks :)

_ Jimin glanced up at the palace, biting his lip nervously. He’s never had to bring news like this to a Guardian before, and he had no idea how to really go about it. After a while of gaining up his courage, he made his way into the palace, immediately being greeted by Jiyong. Jimin bowed deeply to show his respect, and the servant smiled at him, telling him he could stand up. The blond licked his lips and straightened up, glancing around the area. _

_ “I need to see Jinki,” Jimin said. “My name is Jimin, and I’m from Serendipity. I… I have been sent here by an anonymous party.” _

_ “We thought someone would come.” Jiyong said, nodding his head. “Follow me. He would love to see you.” _

_ “Okay,” Jimin said, following the man to Jinki’s chambers. When they made it, the servant knocked on the door. Jinki called out a soft ‘come in’, to which Jiyong opened the door and led Jimin in. _

_ “Serendipity has sent their Spymaster.” Jiyong said before leaving Jimin in the room and walking out. Jimin immediately dropped to his knees, dipping his head down to the floor in a deep bow. _

_ “My name is Jimin.” The blond told him, straightening back up from his bow. “Seokjin trusted me the most to bring you some grave news.” _

_ “You’re Taehyung’s Bonded,” Jinki said, causing Jimin to look up at him in shock. “You may stand. Come in, make yourself comfortable. Minho has told me a lot about you.” _

_ “Yeah, I’m Taehyung’s Bonded.” Jimin said, fondly. “H-how are you doing, sir? Did you get the news?” _

_ “I felt it,” Jinki said, his voice filled with a sadness that the blond hadn’t filmed him in a long while. “I still can’t believe he’s gone…” _

_ “I can’t even imagine your pain,” Jimin said sympathetically, his voice quiet with politeness. “I’m so sorry for your loss, I can’t even imagine what that’s like.” _

_ “Thank you, Jimin,” Jinki said with a sad smile, his finger twisting the golden ring on his finger. “How is his brother doing?” _

_ “He’s not doing well at all,” Jimin said, shaking his head slowly. “He’s with Taehyung right now, in hiding of course. He… he took it pretty hard.” _

_ “Well, why don’t we gather the other Guardians,” Jinki asked, causing Jimin to nod his head in agreement. The elder led him out of the room and they walked to the palace’s library. When they arrived, they found the other three Guardians sitting around a small table. Jimin didn’t understand how they were there already, but Jinki didn’t seem surprised. _

_ “Jimin?” The Guardian of Serendipity, Minho, asked in surprise when he saw his son’s Bonded. He glanced over at the Guardian of Singularity as the man sat down in the empty seat, his face somber. “Jinki? What’s going on?” _

_ “Jimin,” Jinki said with a grim nod of his head, and Jimin slowly glanced between the four sets of eyes that were staring at him. _

_ “Hi,” The blond said, stuttering from his nervousness. “I’m Jimin. I’m from Serendipity. I’m a close friend of Seokjin, the brother of Jonghyun.” _

_ “Aren’t you Minho’s kid’s Bonded?” Taemin, the Guardian of Euphoria, asked him quietly, reaching a hand up to fiddle with a pointed end of one of his ears. Jimin shyly nodded his head, realising that this Guardian was an elf. _

_ “What’s going on?” The final Guardian, Kibum of Epiphany, said questioningly, looking at Jinki with a worried expression on his face. “Where’s Jjong?” _

_ “So today we lost someone very important,” Jimin said, holding eye contact with his Bonded’s father to keep up his confidence. “Jonghyun, the Guardian of Epilogue, and Jinki’s Bonded, fell in his battle against chaos. I was sent up here to give you guys the news, as Seokjin is very unstable and isn’t able to do so himself. He sent me as his messenger.” _

_ “Jonghyun’s… gone?” Taemin asked in surprise as Kibum immediately wrapped his arms around Jinki’s shoulders, worry written all over his face. The elf’s hands came up to cover his mouth, soft brown eyes instantly filling up with tears. _

_ “How is this possible?” Minho said in shock, staring at his best friend before sliding long muscular arms around Taemin, who instantly folded into his chest to sob quietly. Jimin chewed on his lip, not sure of what to say. _

_ “I’ll leave you guys alone.” Jimin said, starting to back away from the table to go towards the door. _

_ “Jimin, wait,” Minho said, catching his attention. The blond looked up at him with wide eyes, confused as to why he was called. “You did a good thing, coming to us like this. We greatly appreciate you telling us this news.” _

_ “Jimin, I’ve been told you’ve wanted to be a part of the Family,” Jinki said, shocking everyone in the room with how strong his voice seemed at the moment. “And I think we should grant you your wish. I believe you should stand by your Bonded in running this land. You deserve it, and after we have the proper time to mourn, I shall perform the ceremony. This is a thank you for checking on me and relaying the news to the other guardians.” _

_ And with that, Jinki finally and properly broke down, the other three Guardians there to catch him. _

* * *

“Junhong, a moment?”

As Junhong left the dining hall, a voice stopped him, and the blond turned to see Jinki standing there. He was leaning against the wall beside the double doors, and Junhong nodded with wide eyes. The Guardian looked at him for a moment before pushing off of the wall, bringing a hand up to pull the boy’s necklace out of his shirt.

“Hey, don’t touch that.” Junhong said, trying to pull back from Jinki’s grasp, but the elder man held him still as he looked at the ring. He slowly brought up his other hand to show off his own ring, and Junhong stopped once he saw that they were  _ identical _ .

What was happening?

“Where did you get this?” Jinki said, his voice gentle as he looked up at Junhong. The blond boy shook his head and ran a hand through his curly hair, biting his lip.

“I… I don’t know.” He said truthfully, looking down at the ground and away from Jinki. “The orphanage said that they found me with it. They said that they tried to take it off, but there is no clasp on the chain and it won’t slip off of my neck, so they just left it.” Jinki merely hummed, letting go of the ring but looking at the locket with a slight frown. He eventually let it go, and Junhong let out a shaky breath as his own hand came up to clasp around the two items on the chain.

“Look, Junhong.” Jinki said, crossing his arms as he looked up at the other. “I can’t tell you for certain whether or not you are my son. You have a sort of magical protection over you that I cannot break through, so I cannot read your magical energy to see if you  _ are _ my son. But you are named Junhong, just like Jonghyun and I were going to name our son, so I shall protect you as if I can protect my own.”

“You really don’t have to pity me, Jinki-ssi.” Junhong said, not caring if the people of this world used honorifics such as that. He wrapped his long arms around his stomach self-consciously, curling into himself, and Jinki smiled sadly.

“You know, Jjong used to do that whenever he was nervous.” Jinki said softly, watching the other with a fond expression in his dark eyed gaze. “He would worry his lower lip, just like you are, his nose all scrunched up and his arms wrapped around his stomach tightly. I… even when he was pregnant, he would hug himself, as if he was going to protect our child from all the dangers that the outside world faced.”

Junhong dropped his hands and looked at Jinki with wide eyes, sniffling softly as he stood there. He may have been almost 190 cm tall, but he was still just a young kid at heart. Even at twenty-one years of age, the thought of having parents that actually  _ cared _ for him reverted him back to a time where that was the only thing he wanted. The curly haired boy stepped forward and looked at Jinki closely, searching for something in his gaze that would tell him whether or not this was his father. He thought, just for a moment, that Jinki could bring forth the blood mark like Jimin did with Minhyuk, but Junhong didn’t mention it in case he was wrong, in case Jinki wasn’t his father and his parents were just people that didn’t love or want him.

“We should join the rest, I think.” Junhong finally said, his voice carrying a weight of disappointment that seemed to heavy for someone his age to be carrying. Jinki nodded once, running a hand through his light brown, wavy hair in a nervous gesture before motioning behind him.

“Alright then, Junhong. To the library, then? Let’s go.”

* * *

The group watched curiously as Minhyuk and Jimin finally joined them, keeping silent. Minhyuk was clinging tightly to the necklace that was now around his neck, with fresh tears in his eyes after the emotional conversation he just had with his father. He didn’t look at his friends as he sat down, thoughts on the father he had never met. He didn’t know how he felt now that he had a family — everything that was happening just seemed so  _ sudden _ . And Minhyuk was never one to be emotional, but of course there was always a first for everything.

“Hey guys.” Jinki said, trying to catch the attention of the four boys. Minhyuk just stared at the table, not even registering that other people were in the room.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Sanha asked, causing the boy to look at him in confusion. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing,” Minhyuk assured him with a slight smile, causing the younger boy to frown. “Really, I’ll be okay.”

“Minhyuk,” Jimin said, causing the boy to look up at him. Jimin gave him a soft smile that warmed Minhyuk’s heart. The boy smiled back at him before turning his attention to the Guardian, who was waiting for him. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, blinking a few times to bring himself back to the present and out of his thoughts. “Please continue.”

“It’s okay, Minhyuk,” Jinki said, his voice reassuring and gentle. “He told you about Taehyung, didn’t he?”

“He did,” Minhyuk said with a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” Jinki said, before looking at the group of boys. “Look, I have some gifts to give you that were blessed with Guardian magic. They will help you with your travels.”

“Gifts?” Sanha asked with wide eyes, a smile appearing on his face. “I love gifts!”

“You’re not tired of gifts yet?” Minhyuk said, not sounding as snarky as he usually does when he teases the orange head. “You got plenty yesterday for your birthday.”

“Says the one who didn’t even get me anything.” The orange haired boy retorted, rolling his eyes. “You still owe me a present!”

“Hey! I bought you a drink from the vending machine at school! And I bought you lunch.” Minhyuk said, crossing his arms in protect. “That’s the best you’ll get from me, since I don’t have much money.”

“Guys,” Himchan said firmly, glaring at them. “Let Jinki continue, will you?”

“Right, sorry,” Minhyuk said, nodding his head respectfully at the Guardian. 

Jinki chuckled and shook his head before picking up a box that was wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped the fabric and opened the box, revealing four small objects. The wavy haired Guardian glanced at Himchan first, picking up a vial and walking over to him. He handed the oldest boy the vial, which was full of clear, shimmering liquid, and the group all stared at it in wonder.

“This vial is full of truth serum.” Jinki said in an informing tone. “It will compel all users to tell the truth when they take it. And every time it is used completely, the vial will refill. This should help you figure out the secrets of your enemies, or find answers when you are in need of them.”

The Guardian then walked back over to the box and pulled out an amulet. He glanced around at the group before holding eye contact with Junhong, and Minhyuk watched the two closely as Jinki brought the amulet over to the curly haired boy. The wavy haired man gently placed the amulet in the boy’s hands, his own hand shaking as he did so. Minhyuk didn’t understand why until Jinki started talking.

“This was originally Jonghyun’s.” Jinki said. “But I am entrusting you with it. This amulet will protect you and your friends from harm. And it will heal you if you were to get injured. Please take care of it and keep it safe.”

The man sighed again and took out another item from the box. He held it in his hand for a while, as if he were thinking something over. He then turned to Minhyuk, placing the object in his hand. Minhyuk looked down at it with questioning eyes, noticing that it seemed to be a broken piece of a mirror. He glanced back up at the Guardian, who was watching him.

“This is a shard from a very important mirror.” Jinki told him gently. “It will reveal to you any answers when you ask it for information. It may not seem like much, but it is extremely important.”

“If you say so,” Minhyuk mumbled, placing the shard into his pocket. He wasn’t really amused by the small ‘gift’. “It just looks like a piece of glass.”

“It will help you,” Jinki said before walking back over to the box and taking out a small, engraved dagger. He smiled softly and placed it into Sanha’s hands. “This dagger will guide your motions in a fight to keep you alive. It will help, especially if you’ve never fought before or if you’ve never wielded a sword.”

“Cool!” Sanha cried out excitedly, causing the group to chuckle. 

“I wish the four of you luck.” Jinki said, just as the boy known as Bin walked into the room. They all looked up at him as he stood in front of them. “I will now leave you in the capable hands of Bin. He’ll guide you and help you with anything you need.”

“Bin, take care of my son.” Jimin ordered the boy as Jinki left the room. Jimin then turned to Minhyuk and pulled him into another hug. “Good luck, son. And remember, if you need anything please call out to your Uncle Baekhyun. He will help you.”

“I will.” Minhyuk assured him, causing the man to smile and pull out of the hug. He then followed Jinki out of the room.

“Well, let’s go,” Bin said, glancing around the room with a smile. “We have a world to save.”

* * *

Jiho didn’t really get a lot of time to himself, but when he did, he always holed himself up in his private bedroom and didn’t speak to anybody for the day. Once he knew he was alone, he pulled a frame out of his drawer, hidden away so the Priestesses wouldn’t find it, and he looked at the picture that was in there. The gang leader stared at the picture in his hands, a sad, faraway look in his eyes as he did so.

It was an old picture, one that he had taken with Kyung right after their official bonding ceremony almost ninety years ago. They had been young and so,  _ so _ in love when they finally bonded properly, Jiho barely able to hold himself back at the end of the ceremony when they were finally allowed to kiss each other. Kyung had cried,  _ of course _ , peppering Jiho’s face with kisses as the taller spun him around, the two of them once again meeting in the middle to kiss each other like it was the first time all over again.

A knock on the door startled Jiho out of his thoughts, and he barely had time to hide the picture frame before Taeil was slipping into the room.

“Goddammit Tae, at least warn a guy before you barge into the room.” Jiho said, his voice harsh but quiet so nobody could hear him. Taeil shut the door behind him and slapped Jiho upside the head, grinning when the gang leader whimpered softly in pain.

“Respect your elders, brat. I’m twenty years older than you.” The smaller man said, sitting down on the bed beside Jiho. The blond man sighed gently when Taeil rested his head on his shoulder, and he turned his head to press a kiss to the brown hair on the fairy’s head.

“Any leads on how to free them?” Jiho whispered as if someone was going to overhear them, looking down at the bond mark around his finger, and Taeil shook his head slowly.

“Yukwon and I have looked everywhere, but we just have to wait until Jongup comes up with a good idea.” Taeil said, his voice just as low as Jiho’s as he spoke about their plans. “Don’t worry about it so much, Ji. You would’ve felt it if he was —”

“Gone? Like Yukwon with Minhyuk?” Jiho said, his voice wavering as he looked down at his hands. They were shaking just slightly, and he clasped them together before Taeil could notice (and of course the elder man noticed, feeling the same way when it came to his Other Half). “You weren’t there for it, Tae. You weren’t there to see the way Yukwonnie just  _ crumpled _ when he felt it, the emptiness in his eyes.”

Jiho remembered it clear as crystal, the smile instantly losing all emotion behind it when it happened. Yukwon brought a hand up to his chest before whispering his Other Half’s name, and Jiho could barely bring himself to move forward to catch him as he fell to the ground. The other man’s knees had given out on him when he felt the bond snap, and tears had instantly come to his eyes as he pressed his face to Jiho’s chest.

It had happened thirty years ago, back when they all still had hope that someone was going to rescue them from their imprisonment. Taeil had come back from his meeting with the Priestesses to see Yukwon clutching onto Jiho like he was the only thing keeping him living, his gaze unmoving and numb as he was unaware of everything happening around him. The three of them shared a bed for over a year after that, Yukwon unable to allow himself to sleep alone. Even now, the emptiness still reigned over his heart, and Jiho swore that he would look over the faded bond mark on his ring finger and cry when nobody was looking.

“I know, Jiho.” Taeil said, looking up at Jiho with sad eyes as he tried to smile for his younger friend. “But you know that he could still be alive, that the blackest of magic used could rip that bond away from us. We have to believe that he’s still alive.”

“I can’t live without him.” Jiho said, his voice dipping into a whine as he thought about losing his one true love. Tears sprung to his eyes, and the elder man instantly held him in a tight hug as his gang leader broke down at the thought of losing the love of his life.

“Jongup’s going to have a plan soon, you’ll see.” Taeil said, hoping that his words comforted Jiho as much as they comforted him. And even though Jiho wasn’t a fan of Jongup, he agreed with his elder.

He needed Kyung now more than ever.

* * *

Jinwoo read through another book about medicine, taking down all necessary notes. He was using all the knowledge in Epiphany to become a good doctor. His parents were the head Bookkeepers of this land, the two of them known as the Librarians. They’ve been teaching their son how to lead so that one day he could be the head of a land, whether it be Epiphany or some other place. Jinwoo wanted to be a strong leader like his father Sunggyu: he wanted to show everyone that he had the knowledge to lead with a strong hand.

“Jinwoo,” a deep voice said, causing the boy to look up from his book and his reading glasses falling to the tip of his nose. “How long have you been in here?”

“Eomma,” Jinwoo said lightly, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. His other parent, the one who gave birth to him, was standing on the other side of his table, which had piles of books littered everywhere. The red haired boy yawned and glanced at the clock. “It’s only midday. I’ve been here since sunrise.”

“You need to get some rest.” The man, known as Woohyun, said, walking over to his son and closing the book. “Stop overworking yourself.”

“But —” Jinwoo started, but was interrupted by the small pattering of feet. The two looked over to find a small, black haired child running over to them.

“Eomma!” The boy cried, lifting his arms up for Woohyun to pick him up. Woohyun chuckled and scooped the boy into his arms before glancing at Jinwoo.

“Donghyunnie, how about you tell your brother how much you need him to play with you?” Woohyun said, causing Jinwoo to give his sixty year old (equivalent to a six year old) brother a soft smile, and he reached over and ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Jinjin, can we play?” The boy asked, just as the door opened and an older man, the two’s half brother, walked in.

“Gukkie!” Donghyun cried, jumping out of Woohyun’s arms and running over to the newcomer as Sunggyu walked in behind him. The child wrapped his arms around his older brother’s legs, looking up at him. “I missed you a lot!”

“I missed you too,” their brother, Yongguk, said softly. “It’s good to see the whole family here. It’s been a minute.”

“What’s going on?” Woohyun said curiously. “I thought you were tending to Minho.”

“I was, but I’ve been wanting to go back to school.” Yongguk said, nodding once as he took off his glasses. “A great offer just opened up here in Epiphany. Baekhyun is watching over his father right now, but I thought I’d come see you guys and bring up an offer to Jinwoo.”

“What kind of offer?” Jinwoo asked with wide eyes, seemingly interested.

“Minho needs a new doctor,” Yongguk said, pulling his youngest brother up into his arms since the child kept pulling at his pant leg. “Someone who is skilled in medicine. And the best person I could think of was my little brother. What do you say, Jin? Want to be the personal doctor for the Guardian of Serendipity? You get to stand by his side and nurse him back to health. He’ll trust you the most.”

“Me? As a Guardian’s personal doctor?” The redhead asked in surprise, looking back and forth between his parents. “Can I?”

“Of course you can!” Sunggyu cried out with a wide grin. “It would be an honor.”

“My father has spoken highly about you to him.” Yongguk said. He was the son of Woohyun and the Guardian of Epiphany, Kibum. “And Minho will always trust Kibum’s word. Nothing’s stronger than the word of a Guardian.”

“I’ll do it!” Jinwoo exclaimed excitedly, causing both his parents to give him a proud smile. They couldn’t be happier that a Guardian wanted to take on their son as his doctor.


	5. Wonder pt. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my co author forgot to post chapter four on aff so here we are posting chapter five for everyone on both sites

_ There was a mourning period that spread throughout the four lands, all of them saddened to hear that a Guardian perished. The happiness that might have come from the Chaos that he was fighting vanquished when everybody learned that Jonghyun had sacrificed himself to get rid of the pain, to get rid of the darkness that was eroding away the happiness in the lands. All across the lands, people were making shrines and tributes to him, some of them still up to this day. _

_ In Epilogue, the land that Jonghyun had reigned over, the spirits of those who had passed were hidden away in their houses. They were going through their own mourning as well, lost in their land without the guidance of their Spirit Guardian. Joonmyun and Jongin, the right and left hands of Jonghyun respectively, were now in charge of Epilogue. _

_ And so they closed it off, to prevent any further corruption. _

_ “Have you told Taemin yet?” Joonmyun spoke softly, not wanting to startle the other spirit, and Jongin shook his head as he turned back to face his elder. _

_ “Not yet. I… I don’t want him to worry if there is corruption here.” Jongin said, smiling lightly as he waved his hand to make the picture of the two of them disappear. “He will insist on me coming home right away, and I don’t know if I can handle that yet.”  _

_ “You should go home anyway, Nini. Your son misses you, and so does your Other Half. Go to them.” Joonmyun said, taking Jongin’s hands in his and pressing the crystal into the palms of his hands gently. “Give Taemin my love, and spoil the hell out of Hakyeon for me. I can handle Epilogue for a couple of years. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get another kid out of this.” _

_ “Maybe.” Jongin said, laughing quietly as he pulled the shorter man into a tight hug. _

_ It was hard being a spirit, sometimes, when he wasn’t born as anything else before that. Jonghyun had created Joonmyun and Jongin when he first took over Epilogue from Yifan, making them his right and left hand men so he had help with turning the souls of those who had passed into spirits who waited patiently for their Other Halves and families to join them in this paradise. When Taemin, another Guardian, came to visit Jonghyun for the first time, he had run into Jongin, and they had instantly fallen in love. Jonghyun used his magical abilities to Bond them properly, just like any normal Bonded pair would be, and he had gifted Jongin a human form that he would turn into while he was in the presence of his Other Half. _

_ Hakyeon had been born in the Treehouse of Wonder (Taemin’s castle, nature friendly of course), the first half-elf and half-spirit child born in Euphoria. Jongin was confused at first, on how Taemin even got pregnant with their child, but he was filled with nothing but happiness when he saw his son for the first time. There had been a huge celebration in Euphoria, lasting several weeks before everyone had come by to see him and give their blessings to the happy couple. Now, Hakyeon was sixty-eight years old — so big already, speaking to everyone and always spreading his contagious smile around to those who interacted with him. Jongin hadn’t had the time to seen him properly, having been in Epilogue to help Joonmyun after Jonghyun’s passing, but maybe he was right. _

_ “I suppose I shall go, then.” Jongin said, pulling away from the other spirit and giving him a soft wave before using the crystal to port to Euphoria. He was nervous about leaving Joonmyun alone without any help, but when he heard a loud ‘Appa!’ and felt the tackle of a small boy against his legs, Jongin allowed himself to be happy again. _

_ It had been too long since he’d seen Taemin, after all, and he was sure that he could find a way to make it up to the other. _

* * *

 

Junhong stumbled when they landed, falling over and landing in a bed of flowers. He groaned quietly in pain, hearing the same noise coming from everyone around him as he slowly sat up.

He noticed that the sun was shining brightly, and that they were laying (well, Bin was standing, that prick) in a meadow of brightly coloured flowers. The blond couldn’t remember seeing any of these colours anywhere, but he didn’t let that fact get to him as he slowly made his way onto both feet. Junhong looked down at his clothing and realised that it had changed from what Jiyong had picked out, white skinny pants with a cream sweater that had a turtleneck and long sleeves. The boots he was wearing were still black and leather, buckling up to end around halfway up his shins.

“Where are we?” Himchan said as he sat up, his dark red hair covered with various flowers as he looked around with a dazed look in his eyes. Junhong giggled quietly at his appearance before bending down to help him up, getting the elder man up to his feet before looking back at Bin. This time, instead of standing alone, Bin had a slightly shimmering figure in his arms, and Junhong looked away once he realised that they were in a pretty intimate position (he had never had a boyfriend before and he was always shy about getting touchy in public, so their hug was something that made him blush).

“Who’s that?” Minhyuk said, standing beside the tall blond and sliding a hand into his habitually. Junhong squeezed it lightly before letting go to move forward, the others joining him as they made their way to Bin and the strange figure.

“This is Dongmin.” Bin said, an arm around the figure’s waist while the other hand rested on his stomach, which was rounded and big. “Dongmin is my Other Half, and he is a half-elf, half-spirit.”

“It’s very nice to meet you all.” The aforementioned man said softly, bringing a hand up to wave it at the four. He turned his head to look back at Bin, his black hair long and flowing down his back to end just at his waist. “Bin, you didn’t tell me you were coming today! I thought I was going to be waiting a few more days for your arrival.”

“Something came up, my love. I shall explain when we have the time” Bin mumbled, leaning forward to press a kiss to Dongmin’s temple before pulling away. “Alright you four, let’s get you to the castle. I’m sure that the others are eagerly waiting for you. By now, the entire forest knows that you’re here.”

“This is getting weird.” Himchan said, leaning forward and up to whisper it into Junhong’s ear. “Are you sure we’re not dreaming, Junnie? Or that we can’t give up?”

“Shut up, hyung.” Junhong said, elbowing Himchan in the gut and starting forward after Bin and Dongmin. He could hear his older friend letting out a grunt at the force of it, nothing else but footsteps following him. The party kept quiet until they reached a circular clearing that was deep in the forest, the clearing large and seemingly empty as they stepped into it. There were torches lining the edge all the way around, and the party didn’t stop walking until they reached the middle.

“They’ll be down shortly.” Dongmin said, looking up at the trees with a gentle smile and a hand on his stomach. Junhong looked at him for a long moment, the sun shining just right in through the trees to reflect off of the silver band that was around Dongmin’s head. The blond assumed that it meant he was royalty, but he couldn’t think any further about it as a whoop from above caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see a band of people dropping from the trees, and Junhong came about face to face with a darker skinned man that had a more intricate silver band around his head, similar to Dongmin’s.

“So, you’re from Earth?” The man asked, and Junhong barely had time to nod his answer before a smack was dealt upside his head.

“Sorry for my Other Half, he doesn’t seem to know what  _ tact _ is.” Another man said, his hair bright red and a shimmer flowing through him just like Dongmin. He held out his hand to Junhong, and the blond reached out to take it, only for the red haired man to grab his forearm instead in a form of greeting. “Hakyeon, King of Euphoria. I see you’ve met my younger brother and his Bonded.”

“Junhong.” He said, his voice tapering off at the end as he saw the redhead’s eyes widening. “I… it’s nice to meet you, Hakyeon-ssi.”

“You Earthlings with your silly customs. Please, call me Hakyeon.” The King said, a shimmer running through his body that caused Junhong to lose his grip on the other man. Pleased with the confused expression on his face. Hakyeon patted the taller on the shoulder and went about introducing himself to the others, more people coming up to meet Junhong.

“Taekwoon.” One man said simply, nodding his head but not extending his hand out in a greeting. Junhong thought this was weird behaviour, of course, but just nodded his head back in case the other had a fear for germs or something.

“Don’t mind him, it was a Leo day earlier and he’s trying to recover.” The dark skinned man from earlier said, clapping a hand on Junhong’s shoulder and grinning widely. “Wonshik, for now. But on full moon nights, it’s Ravi.” The blond watched as Wonshik’s eyes glowed yellow for just a moment, and he swore he could see sharp canines in the other man’s smile before both were gone. “You’ll find that Euphoria has the most…  _ unique _ of races, out of the four lands. Hakyeonnie and Dongmin are both half-elf and half-spirit, as I’m sure you heard. Leo —”

A growl interrupted Wonshik, and it sent Junhong’s heart beating wildly, but the man in question just smiled cheekily at the other before continuing.

“Sorry,  _ Taekwoonie _ here is a siren. Whenever he goes into a trance, he goes by Leo. Don’t worry, you’ll probably never see one of those.” Wonshik said reassuringly, but Junhong didn’t feel reassured at all as he looked at the other two men standing beside Taekwoon. “The shortest one of us is Hongbin, who’s a nymph. Yes, that means he’s a tree.”

“Nice to meet you.” Junhong said, his voice quiet and shy as he raised a hand to wave at the other. Hongbin only had time to wave back before Wonshik was talking again, and the nymph shook his head fondly as his friend as the dark skinned man slid an arm around a boy’s waist.

“This is Sanghyuk.” Wonshik said, his voice softening as he looked at the other. Sanghyuk buried his face into Wonshik’s shoulder as the other spoke, and Junhong smiled lightly at the display. “Hyukkie here is a star child,  _ literally _ . He was gifted to Jaehwan over a hundred years ago, when Jaehwan saved our Guardian’s life in a battle. He was originally supposed to be just a companion, but they fell in love.”

“That’s so romantic.” Junhong said, and a squeak came from Wonshik’s shoulder.

“Come now, friends, let us have our dinner celebration to welcome our new guests!” Hakyeon said, his voice carrying through the clearing, and Junhong realised that the clearing had filled up with various other creatures. A loud cheer filled the air, and the curly haired boy let himself be dragged by an excited siren for some food.

* * *

 

Sanha stared around at the people around the clearing, amazed by all the different creatures. He never imagined creatures like this actually existed, and he found it absolutely beautiful and even intriguing. As he looked to the side he saw an actual centaur talking with the King, and Sanha’s eyes widened even more as he turned to Minhyuk, pointing the centaur out. Minhyuk glanced over, not seeming too shocked. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the crystal around his neck, holding it in his hands. Sanha sighed and disappointment and glanced over at Dongmin, who was watching him curiously. The orange haired boy gave him a bright smile, sitting down on a log in front of the wooden table that was now in the clearing. Dongmin took a seat next to him.

“Hi.” He greeted, holding his hand out for the boy to shake.

“I’m Dongmin,” the long haired boy said, reaching over and grasping his forearm just like Hakyeon did to Junhong. Holding onto his arm was a weird sensation, because at one point it didn’t even feel solid. It seemed to slip right through Sanha’s hand. Sanha stared down at his hand in shock, blinking slowly.

“I… My name is Sanha,” The orange haired boy said, looking up at him with his eyes wide. “I just have a question…”

“You can ask me anything.” Dongmin said with a soft smile as Bin sat down next to them.

“H-how can you be half-spirit and half-elf?” Sanha asked, staring at the shimmering boy. The other boy laughed and glanced at Bin, who nodded his head in approval.

“Well the parent who got pregnant with me, he’s a Guardian. Taemin, the Guardian of Euphoria.” Dongmin said. “He met my other father, Jongin, in Epilogue. Jongin is a spirit, but because he fell in love with Taemin, Jonghyun used magic so that they could be Bonded. And whenever Jongin leaves Epilogue, he can take on a solid form. But only when he’s around Taemin, of course.”

“Magic is a really weird thing,” Sanha said with a confused frown. “Wouldn’t you be half Guardian?”

“I mean technically yes, but the Guardians aren’t a race. The Guardians are powerful magic users who were selected to guard the five lands,” Dongmin said, rubbing his stomach. “They watch over and protect us. Taemin is an elf, which is why I’m part elf.”

“Minhyuk’s father Taehyung was also born from a Guardian,” Bin informed him, causing Sanha’s eyes to widen.

“So Minhyuk was born from someone who was half Guardian and he was born from a God?” The orange haired boy asked, trying to understand what they were saying. “So that makes him really powerful, right?”

“Minhyuk may or may not have Guardian magic.” Dongmin said. “It depends on if Taehyung inherited it, and it also depends on if he passed it down to Minhyuk. I myself don’t have Guardian magic. I do have magic from the elven people and much like my father, Jongin, I take on a spirit form every once in a while, but mainly I’m solid.”

“And in Serendipity, even though they’re known as Gods,” Bin cut in, “they’re not actually Gods. Very much like here in Euphoria, they’re like Kings, and they run the land. They are usually more powerful than most of their citizens, and their kids are known as  _ dimis _ . Namjoon, the man who took over Serendipity, wanted to sound more superior than everyone else, so he named all the Family members ‘Gods’. My father, Jungkook, is one of those Gods. So is Jimin and… Taehyung was too.”

“How did Namjoon take over?” Sanha said. “Wouldn’t Jimin or Taehyung have the rule?”

“Well Seokjin, our first ruler, descended down to Earth and gave up his throne — I guess you could say — so that he could be with his Bonded, who isn’t from Prologue.” Bin said. “You met Seokjin yourself, actually. He’s Himchan’s father —”

“He’s the one who is adopting me,” Sanha said with wide eyes. “He’s from here?”

“Why else would Himchan be here?” Bin asked with a small smile. “Anyway, after Seokjin left, Taehyung took the throne. We were happy for 90 years, and then Taehyung… passed away.”

“Taehyung died?” Sanha cried out in shock, glancing over at his friend who was staring at the table. “Did Jimin tell him? Is that why Minhyuk is acting so weird?”

“Jimin did inform him,” the guide said with a small nod. “He’s probably in shock. He just found out he lost a father he never met.”

“I’ll have to talk to him.” Sanha said sadly, biting his lip. He glanced at Minhyuk, who was watching Junhong and Himchan conversing together. He then sighed deeply before looking at Bin. “Please continue. What happened after Taehyung passed away?”

“Namjoon took over.” Bin said. “Because Jimin was too torn up after losing Taehyung, Namjoon used that weakness to take over Serendipity completely, only having done so partially at first. Jimin was taken to Minho as he mourned beside Taehyung’s brother, Baekhyun. And while he was there, they found out he was expecting a baby. So they kept him up there to keep the baby safe from Namjoon, who would have banished Jimin and the baby since it was made out of love. After Minhyuk’s birth, Jimin took Minhyuk down to Earth to put him in an orphanage. He then went back to Serendipity, becoming Namjoon’s right hand man, while also working as a spy for Minho. When Minho’s  illness became much worse, Jimin started reporting to Jinki and soon enough, him and Jimin decided to reach out to you four.”

“Oh,” was all Sanha could say as he looked back and forth between the two.  He stayed quiet for a while, trying to think of what else he could say. He bit his lip, looking around the clearing. “Can I ask one more question?”

“Of course you can,” Dongmin said, nodding his head. 

“What… actually happened to Jonghyun? I heard something about Chaos and a fight, but what was all that about?” Sanha asked them, causing the couple to exchange looks. 

“I don’t know all the details,” Dongmin said. “Only what I heard from my father. So the five Guardians took turns battling this evil we called Chaos. He had an actual name of course, but it’s been so long that nobody can even remember it, unless you are a Guardian. From what my father told me, Jonghyun was fighting Chaos. Jonghyun sacrificed himself to save everyone else, but made sure he ended Chaos while he himself fell. He —”

“Can I have everyone’s attention!” A frantic voice cried out, causing everyone to stop talking. They looked over to find a distressed nymph standing in the middle of the clearing. “King Jaehwan has been attacked!”

* * *

 

Himchan looked up from his food when the announcement was made, watching out of the corner of his eye as Hakyeon and Sanghyuk both stood up. The nymph walked forward to kneel in front of the red haired elf, and Hakyeon shimmered slightly before becoming solid once more.

“Do you know where he is?” The king asked, standing in front of the messenger, and the nymph nodded once with wide eyes.

“He’s on the Western Shores, your Majesty. He was not well enough to move, but I cast a protection spell on him, and the trees in his area know to keep him safe until you arrive.” The messenger said, standing up and wringing his hands together nervously.

“Everyone, please stay here and keep safe. If you go anywhere, please take someone with you.” Hakyeon called out, looking around the clearing. “Sanghyuk and I will go to the shores.”

“I’m coming with you.” Himchan said, blurting out his words randomly as he stood up from the log. He wasn’t sure where that came from, but he had a bad feeling about letting the two royals go alone. Junhong beside him stood up as well, and Hakyeon paused for a moment before nodding once.

“Hyung, are you sure about this?” Junhong asked, quickly following Himchan as the elder man moved towards the two royals in the middle of the clearing. “This could be dangerous, and we have no weapons.”

“It’s going to be fine, Junhong-ah.” Himchan said, prompting the younger boy to shut up. The two of them made it to the royals, where Hakyeon handed a long dagger to Himchan. A weapon was offered to Junhong, but he shook his head with a slightly sick expression on his face.

“Let’s go.” Hakyeon said, Sanghyuk eerily silent as they made their way through the forest. In case whoever attacked Jaehwan was hiding in the trees on their way to the Western Shores, they didn’t bring any torches, the light from the moon above keeping their path lit just enough for them to see while being undetected. Himchan tried to be quiet as he followed Hakyeon through the trees, flinching only slightly when they came out of the forest to end up on the sand.

“Hyukkie?” A weak voice said, and Sanghyuk immediately took off towards the voice. Hakyeon hissed and followed after him, Himchan and Junhong bringing up the rear as they made it to a group of rocks.

“Jaehwannie.” Sanghyuk said, his voice wavering as he slid to his knees beside what was apparently King Jaehwan. Himchan watched with a frown as a bloodied hand came up to brush soft fingertips against Sanghyuk’s cheek, and with a lurch of his stomach, the auburn man realised that Jaehwan wasn’t going to make it, that he was simply too injured to be healed by anything — including magic.

“You’re here.” Jaehwan whispered softly, and Sanghyuk turned his face to brush a gentle kiss to Jaehwan’s fingers as he tried to hold back his tears.

“Where else would I be, other than beside you?” Sanghyuk said, sniffling quietly. Himchan could only register the feeling of a hand in his, but otherwise he couldn’t move his gaze from Jaehwan’s bloodied form, knowing that his time was extremely short.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t get to Bond.” Jaehwan said, coughing a few times, and blood trickled from his lips. Sanghyuk shook his head and leaned down to press their lips together for a few moments, not caring that he now had blood on his own as he looked down at the royal.

“I got to spend years with you, Jaehwan. Never apologise.” Sanghyuk said, and Himchan watched the moment that the light in Jaehwan’s faded, the soft blue of them glazing over as he finally succumbed to his wounds.

With a loud sob, Sanghyuk pressed his forehead to Jaehwan’s, his hands shaking as he cried for his love. Himchan ripped his eyes from the scene and slid his arms around Junhong’s waist, blinking back his own tears as the younger buried his face into his neck and cried silently. This was the first time that he had really witness someone dying, and while Jaehwan wasn’t someone that he knew, it still hurt his heart to realise that death was a little more common in this world than it was on Earth.

“Hyukkie, I’m so sorry.” Hakyeon said, and Himchan looked over to see the red haired man place a hand on Sanghyuk’s shoulder. The man from the stars lifted his head up to look at his King, his own gaze empty and lost as he looked at the other.

“I… Hakyeon, I wouldn’t ask this of you if I wasn’t completely certain.” Sanghyuk said, his voice cracking halfway through his sentence. “Please, let me go.”

“Sanghyuk…” Hakyeon said, and Himchan didn’t realise what was happening between them, but he had a feeling that Sanghyuk was about to leave them as well. “Fine. Hyukkie…  _ Sanghyuk _ , on behalf of King Jaehwan, I let you go… and I send you back to the stars where you belong.”

Junhong lifted his head just as Sanghyuk’s and Jaehwan’s forms both started to glow, and Himchan watched as the glowing form of Jaehwan stood up from the ground beside Sanghyuk. He looked to be perfectly healthy, no blood in sight, and he was standing there hand in hand with the other boy. Sanghyuk looked at Himchan and gave him a wave before the both of them dissolved slowly into tiny glowing dots, floating up into the night sky.

“Where are they going?” Himchan whispered, not wanting to ruin the beauty as the glowing lights of Sanghyuk and Jaehwan made their home up in the sky.

“Sanghyuk is from the stars, Himchan.” Hakyeon said softly, standing beside him and Junhong with a sad smile. “He was given to Jaehwan as a companion, so they belong to each other. Usually only their chosen companion can release them, but since Jaehwan died, I had to do it on his behalf. They’re both in the stars now, gone but  _ together _ , and that’s what’s important.”

“I just wish we knew who attacked him, so we can make sure they don’t go after the others.” Himchan said, knowing that Junhong was still too shaken up to speak, and a cough sounded behind them before a melodic voice spoke.

“I can help with that, actually.”

The three of them turned around with a startle, seeing that just a few yards away from them, a merman lay stranded on the beach. The creature in question raised a hand and waved slightly, full lips curling up into a smile.

“My name is Youngjae, and I’m a siren. This sounds really bad, but I killed Jaehwan.”

* * *

 

Minhyuk stared in shock as his friends followed the two men out of the clearing. He looked over at Sanha, who wanted to go with, but was being held back by Dongmin and Bin. Minhyuk was worried for his friends because they have never been separated, but he knew he had to stay by their youngest friend. He placed his hands on the orange haired boy’s shoulders, causing Sanha to look up at him with wide eyes. Minhyuk gave him a small smile, pushing him back down onto the log he was sitting on.

“Calm down.” Minhyuk said softly. “They’ll be back.”

“What if something happens to them?” Sanha asked, fear lacing his voice.

“Nothing is going to happen to them.” Minhyuk assured him, looking up at the couple standing behind them. “Right?”

“They’re safe with my brother;” Dongmin said. “He’s not going to let anything happen to them.”

“I hope you’re right.” Minhyuk said, nodding his head and looking down at his younger friend. He pulled Sanha into a hug, placing his forehead against his shoulder. Sanha immediately hugged him back, snaking his arms around the other’s waist. 

“Hyung,” Sanha said as the older closed his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?” Minhyuk said, though he knew exactly what Sanha meant. He heard everything the couple said to the young boy. He could almost feel the pain his father went through when he lost his Other Half. His heart clenched as the story replayed in his head.

“You’ve been out of it since you met your father.” Sanha said into his ear. “I can see you’re in pain. You’re not yourself right now.”

“I’ll be okay.” Minhyuk said. He then let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head and pulling out of the hug. He looked into the other’s eyes, trying to process what he wanted to say. “I spent my whole life thinking about how _angry_ I would be at my parents when I finally met them. How much I wanted to scream at them for abandoning me. And now that I know I wasn’t abandoned. Now that I know the pain my father had to go through this whole time. I can’t be angry at him, I can’t hate him. Because my heart _feels_ his pain. I can feel his sincerity, his love, his regret, and it’s not in my mind either. It’s like an empty hole in my heart was suddenly filled. I don’t understand it, but it’s like I have a piece of him in me.”

“That’s your blood bond.” A voice said, causing the two boys to look over to find the dark skinned man and the silent one from earlier standing next to them. Minhyuk remembered him introducing himself as Wonshik. “The bond lets you feel what the other person is feeling, if they’ve opened the bond up to you. It’s the same with a Bonded pair.”

Minhyuk slowly nodded his head, looking down at the crystal around his neck once again. This was the only gift he had from his parents, even though it wasn’t really a gift and he couldn’t keep it. Dongmin seemed to be eyeing it as well. Minhyuk noticed and looked up at the long haired boy who bit his lip. Bin noticed and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“You’re a magic user.” Dongmin said out loud, confusing the younger boy. “I know one when I see one.”

“A magic user?” The brown haired boy asked with a frown. “I’ve never used magic in my life. I was against it being real until my father brought us into this world.”

“A magic user knows when another one is in their presence.” Dongmin said with a smile, shimmering out of sight before appearing again. Minhyuk stared at him with wide eyes, not sure what just happened as the skies started to darken. They heard a low growl come from Wonshik, but no one besides Minhyuk and Sanha paid much attention. “Even if you haven’t used magic before, I can tell that you’re a magic user. You have it flowing through your veins. I’m a magic user myself.”

“What?” Minhyuk asked, trying to process what the other was telling him. He watched as Dongmin pulled something out of his pocket, revealing to him a crystal shard. 

“All magic users stick together.” Dongmin said. “Bin told me about your mission and about the crystals you had to gather. I happen to have one of those crystals. And I will entrust you with mine.”

“That was… easy.” Minhyuk said, taking a hold of the crystal and putting it in his pocket where the shard of the mirror was. Despite the fact that he was wearing a different outfit than he was in Jinki’s palace, it seemed that the item followed him and stayed in his pocket. 

Wonshik started to become restless, causing Minhyuk to turn on him. The man now had bright yellow eyes and fangs, claws sprouting from his fingers. He was pacing back and forth while the other man, who Minhyuk remembered was Taekwoon, tried to calm him down. Wonshik snapped at him, walking further away from the group with his friend following him. Minhyuk looked at Dongmin and Bin in alarm, but they didn’t seem phased.

“He’s a werewolf, but my brother’s Bonded won’t hurt us.” Dongmin said. “He’s in control of himself, he’s just more aggressive. You have nothing to worry about.”

“This place is so whacked up,” Minhyuk mumbled to Sanha, just as a scream was heard. 

“ATTACK!” Someone screamed as hooded beings appeared in the clearing. People scattered around, trying to retreat from the figures made their way over to them.

“I think you spoke too soon.” Sanha said, pressing up to his friend just as Taekwoon and Bin appeared on either side of them.

“Hold on tightly, please.” Bin said, grabbing Minhyuk with a grip around his waist before they were catapulting up towards the trees.


	6. Wonder pt. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> springdayvmin was in los angeles for the astro fanmeet so we forgot to post. i hope you guys enjoy <3

_ “Guess who is gone for a month.” A man with blue tinted hair said, walking into the room where his Other Half and the other’s best friend were sitting. His Other Half, a man with strawberry blond hair, looked up with raised eyebrows, waiting for the other to talk. “Namjoon is gone for a month! We can actually hold a ten year celebration for our son!” _

_ “Yoongi! This is great!” The blond cried, jumping up and hugging his Bonded. “Jihoon will be safe!” _

_ “I’ve been wanting to celebrate his birthday for such a long time, Hobi.” Yoongi said, hugging the man back. “With Namjoon around, it’s been absolutely impossible to do anything for Jihoon.” _

_ “I feel so bad for this kid.” The blond said, backing out of the hug and closing his eyes. “He can’t have a proper childhood around here.” _

_ “Namjoon is an ass.” Yoongi said, shaking his head. “But Hoseok, we can find a place to do the party where we can freely speak about who he is.” _

_ “Taemin invited me to his place for his baby shower.” The third man in the room said. “And Jimin, you guys know Jimin, well he’s going too because he personally knows the Guardians.” _

_ “How does Jimin know the Guardians?” Yoongi asked with a frown, looking at the boy with light brown hair. _

_ “He did a special mission for Seokjin years ago.” He said. “And because of it, the Guardians made him a member of the Family alongside us. So he can be my right hand man.” _

_ “Oh, so that’s how he did it.” Hoseok said, nodding his head. “I keep forgetting that you and Jimin are close, Tae.” _

_ “Yeah, we are.” Taehyung said with a small smile. “Let me reach out to Taemin and see if he’ll allow us to do the party with him.” _

_ Several days later, the three of them walked into the Treehouse of Wonder together, Hoseok carrying a small baby in his arms. They were greeted by a small boy with bright red hair sporting a wide grin on his face, the boy’s form shimmering just slightly. He took a hold of Taehyung’s hand, dragging him to the ballroom where everyone was gathered. Hoseok and Yoongi followed behind, chuckling at the small boy. The boy was Taemin’s oldest child, Hakyeon.  _

_ “Is this the birthday boy?” Hakyeon asked, glancing back at the baby in Hoseok’s arm. _

_ “It is.” Hoseok said with a soft smile, letting the boy look at the baby.  _

_ “How old is he?” He said curiously. _

_ “He’s ten years old." Yoongi said, causing the boy’s eyes to widen in shock. Yoongi chuckled and looked around to find the Guardian, Taemin, sitting at a table with his Other Half. Yoongi passed all the guests, walking right up to him. “Taemin.” _

_ “Ah, you must be Yoongi!” Taemin cried out, looking up at him with a bright smile. “Taehyung told me a lot about you.” _

_ “I am.” Yoongi said, bowing respectfully to him. “This is my Bonded, Hoseok. And our son, Jihoon.” _

_ “It’s nice to finally meet you." Taemin said, gesturing for the two to sit down.  _

_ “You too.” Yoongi replied, smiling back at him. “It’s an honor to share this party with you. I’m sorry if we’re intruding.” _

_ “Your son’s safety comes first.” Taemin said, shaking his head. “I don’t mind sharing a party, and Taehyung insisted how important this was. I trust the son of my best friend.” _

_ “Again, thank you for doing this.” Taehyung said as he walked over to him with Jimin behind him. “It means a lot to all of us.” _

_ “It’s my pleasure.” Taemin said, placing his hand on his round stomach.  _

_ The group smiled at him before watching as more guests came into the room. All four of the other Guardians were there as well as some of their families. Friends of Hoseok’s and Yoongi’s were also there, everyone greeting each other with bright smiles and friendly conversation. Even an old friend of theirs, who was a part of the Family but was currently living in Epiphany with their other half, had come. Jungkook was his name. Jungkook was always a close friend of Hoseok’s. He promised he would visit when he got the chance, but he was living out of Serendipity so that Namjoon couldn’t figure out about his son. _

_ “Hey guys.” Jungkook said as he made his way over to the group. “It’s really good seeing all of you again.” _

_ “It’s great seeing you too.” Hoseok said, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you for coming.” _

_ “I brought my son along, but he went to play with some of the other kids.” Jungkook said, glancing at the group of kids in the far corner. “You guys won’t believe how much Sehun has grown.” _

_ “Are you and Yugyeom wanting another kid?” Yoongi asked him, causing their black haired friend to bite his lip in thought. _

_ “I want another child, yes.” Jungkook admitted. “But I want to come home at some point too.” _

_ “Kookie!” Jimin exclaiming, turning away from the Guardian he was currently talking to. Jungkook looked up at him with wide eyes. _

_ “Jimin?” He said, running over and hugging him tightly. “I didn’t know you would come here! I didn’t know you were close with Yoongi and Hoseok.” _

_ “Actually, we barely talk.” Jimin said with a shy smile towards the couple. “Taemin invited me for his baby shower.” _

_ “That makes so much more sense.” Jungkook said with a laugh. “I missed you so much! You and Taehyung!” _

_ “What about me?” Hoseok asked with raised eyebrows, causing the black haired boy to chuckle. _

_ “I missed you all.” Jungkook said before looking at his son, who was running over with Hakyeon. _

_ “Eomma! Hakyeonnie is my new best friend!” The young boy said with a wide grin. Jungkook laughed and looked at the redhead who was holding the hand of his small son. Yoongi stared at the group with a fond smile before looking over at his Bonded.  _

_ “Hoseok." Yoongi said, leaning over and kissing Jihoon’s forehead. “I think our son is going to grow up with some good friends. Even if we have to hide you as his father from Namjoon, I think our son will be happy.” _

_ “I hope he is.” Hoseok said, also staring down at his son. “I just want the best for our baby boy.” _

* * *

 

“Your own father, how could you?” Hakyeon said, shaking his head slowly. “Youngjae, please tell me it's more than what I think it is.”

“The Siren King told me to.” Youngjae said, looking up at Hakyeon with wide eyes as the redhead moved towards him. Junhong slowly followed after him, still clutching onto Himchan’s waist. “You know how appa was talking about investigating the Siren King because he seemed suspicious.”

“Of course I know that, I told him to be  _ careful _ .” Hakyeon said, crouching down beside the siren. He brought his hands up to Youngjae’s light brown hair, stroking it gently.

“The Siren King was formerly known as Lu Han.” Youngjae said, and the red haired man blinked slightly before his tanned face paled substantially. “And Jaehwan found this out.”

“Who’s Lu Han?” Junhong asked, his voice quiet, and both the siren and the elf spirit looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Lu Han was a servant to Chaos.” Hakyeon said, his voice holding a grave tone to it as he looked back down at Youngjae. The redhead brushed his fingers along the blood mark on his arm before gripping onto his wrist, a pleading expression on his face. “Does he know who any of the other ones are?”

“He only had two other names written down, but neither of them are in Euphoria.” Youngjae said, coughing lightly before laying back against the sand. “He wrote them in a journal that he left in the castle this time. I think he knew that Lu Han was going to have us kill him.”

“That’s why Taekwoon became Leo today, isn’t it?” Hakyeon said, letting his hand fall through Youngjae’s wrist before standing up. “We need to get back to the castle and find that journal.”

“You’re too late.” Youngjae said, bringing a hand up to his side and holding onto it gently. Junhong looked down to see blood leaking onto the siren’s fingers, and he nudged Himchan beside him gently.

“And you’re bleeding.” Himchan said, kneeling down beside Youngjae and putting pressure on the wound himself.

“Punishment, for not killing Jaehwan when I attacked him.” Youngjae whispered, looking up at Junhong with wide eyes. “You… you’re Junhong, right? The Siren King mentioned something about you and the other  _ dimis _ , said that you were going to undo everything he’s worked so hard to achieve.”

Junhong opened his mouth to respond, ready to tell Youngjae just how  _ wrong _ everything felt, when he heard a series of faint yells and screams coming from the forest. His head of curly blond hair bounced as he turned towards the noise, remembering that Minhyuk and Sanha were still in the Clearing…

Where the sound was coming from.

“They’re under attack.” Junhong said, looking down at the siren with wide eyes. “You lived with them, you knew this was going to happen.”

“Yes, I did.” Youngjae said, his voice filled with sadness. “But I know how to stop them. Please… let me avenge my father by helping you get rid of Lu Han.”

Hakyeon looked conflicted for a moment, and Junhong understood why. His friend had just  _ died _ , another leaving to go back to where he came from all within a short timeframe. He knew that putting their trust into Youngjae was risky, but it was the only advantage they had as the Siren King descended on the castle and the innocent people of Euphoria.

“Alright, but you’re going to need some legs for that.” Hakyeon said finally, and Junhong watched with wide eyes as the siren’s deep red tail turned into a pair of legs that fit perfectly onto the top half of his body. Youngjae coughed quietly, and Hakyeon rolled his eyes before conjuring up a pair of clothes as well. “I’ve never known you to be  _ modest _ before.”

“I think the quiet one over here will combust if I don’t cover up.” Youngjae said, and Junhong turned his head to see that Himchan was a bright red colour and not looking in the siren’s direction.

“Ignore him, he just hasn’t been laid in a few years.” Junhong said, and Himchan smacked him.

“Disrespectful brat. Let’s go before the other two get killed.”

* * *

 

Minhyuk followed Dongmin and Bin to the castle, holding tightly onto Sanha’s hand. He could feel the boy trembling in fear. The two of them have never been on the verge of danger like this, and their mission only just became real to Minhyuk. He wanted to protect his best friend, but he didn't know how. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. And at the moment he hated his father for having them do something dangerous like this. But he also couldn’t thank him enough for the faith he had in them. 

Dongmin and Bin led everyone into the safety of the castle, Taekwoon and Wonshik with a group in the back warding off the attackers. When they made it, Dongmin led everyone inside, Wonshik staying outside with a group of his soldiers to fight. The elf spirit then led everyone deeper into the castle, looking around at the people who had followed him. Bin placed a hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes. Minhyuk glanced around at the terrified group that was standing in the open castle.

“Dongmin, I need you to stay here with the people.” The elf’s Bonded said, glancing around at everyone else. “Children and elderly, I need you all to stay here with Dongmin. Minhyuk, Sanha, do you want to stay here?”

“No.” Minhyuk said, shaking his head. “My friends are out there. And I don’t care if they’re with the King.”

“Do you know how to fight?” Bin asked with raised eyebrows, causing the boy to shake his head. “Then —”

“My dad gave me this mission for a reason.” Minhyuk said, cutting him off. “If that means I have to fight to save this kingdom, then I will. Especially if that means I have to save Junhong and Himchan. Whether or not they’re safe, I don’t care.”

“Hyung." Sanha said, looking at him. The younger boy bit his lip before nodding his head as well. “I’m coming too. The four of us needs to work together.”

“You’re right.” Minhyuk agreed, looking back at Bin. “We’re going.”

“Get them some swords.” Bin said, turning on one of the servants.

“Actually." Minhyuk said, raising his hand before putting it down again, thinking he looked stupid. “I took lessons in Archery at my school. I mean, I can hit my target. I’ve never done archery in battle, but if you have a bow and arrow, I think I’d feel more comfortable with it.”

“Taehyung was the same way.” Bin said with a small smile. “He preferred archery whenever he had to fight. And when he had to fight, he was a great archer.”

“I never knew he had to fight.” Minhyuk said, biting his lip and glancing at Sanha. “Are you sure you want to do this with me?”

“I’m sure.” Sanha said, nodding his head as someone handed Sanha a sword and Minhyuk a bow with a quiver of arrows. The two exchanged looks, not sure of what to do anymore. Bin then walked around to talk to everyone waiting for them. The two looked over to see Dongmin leading a different group away. This left the two of them lost and not sure of what to do.

Minhyuk sighed and grabbed Sanha’s wrist, pulling him off to the side. It seemed like everyone was talking about a battle plan, while banging was heard on the castle doors. Sanha stared at the doors with wide eyes, visibly shaking, and Minhyuk could tell how scared the boy really was. He couldn’t blame him, either. They have never been exposed to anything like this. This was a complete culture shock for the both of them.

“Hey." Minhyuk said, looking into the younger boy’s eyes. “It’s going to be okay. We have each other’s backs. And remember that dagger Jinki gave you and what he said about it? That’s going to help you. Let’s be strong, okay? I know this is scary and everything. God, I don’t even know how we’re going to get through this. But the people here, they seem skilled in what they’re doing, so we don’t have much to worry about. They’re going to make sure nothing happens to us, and Bin will make sure we’re safe.”

“Do you think Junhong-hyung and Himchan-hyung are going to come back?” Sanha asked, causing Minhyuk to smile and nod his head.

“They’re going to be by our sides very soon.” Minhyuk assured him. He felt way more scared than he was actually letting on, but he didn’t want Sanha to know how scared he actually was, just so that the younger boy wouldn’t be scared. “Should we go ask Bin what’s going on?”

“Yes.” Sanha agreed, clasping tightly onto the hilt of the sword in his hand. “Hyung, I’ve never fought before. I’m scared I’m not going to be able to do anything.”

“Same for me, Sanha.” Minhyuk said, nodding his head. “But it will be okay. We’ll get through this. We’ll learn, even though it’s hands-on learning.”

“Is the king even going to let us fight?” Sanha asked, causing the older boy to shrug his shoulders. “Bin makes it seem like we are.”

“I guess we’ll have to see.” Minhyuk said, just as a side door opened and the king came in with Himchan, Junhong, and some guy Minhyuk didn’t recognize, but he looked to be somewhere around their age.

“Alright, everyone gather around.” Hakyeon said, his voice booming out as Minhyuk and Sanha ran up to their friends. “We need to work on a plan.”

* * *

 

B-Bomb — or as the Priestesses called him, Minhyuk (since he wasn’t part of the gang anymore, they felt the need to use his real name) — felt his hands shaking as he gripped the edges of the sink, his eyes clenched shut as he forced himself to look away from the sight.

It was his fiftieth pregnancy since being captured and held captive by the acting Priestesses of Singularity, and this one was taking its toll on him. Out of all the pregnancies, only four of them had turned out to be girls. The girls had been ripped from him violently, sending him further into a depression once he realised that they were going to be groomed by the Priestesses to take over at some point. The boys…

Each boy that Minhyuk had was killed right in front of him.

They would always allow him to carry the baby to term, even if they knew that it was going to be a boy. It killed Minhyuk inside every single day, but he couldn’t say anything about it or else they would kill him (which he was fine with, at this point, since Yukwon was already dead. He had felt their bond break thirty years ago, and by then, Minhyuk had lost all of his fight).

“Hurry the fuck up in there, slut.” A guard said in a deep voice, pounding on the door violently, and Minhyuk looked up into the mirror to see how broken he looked… very much so, of course. He had purple bags under his eyes, which looked dull and lifeless, and there was blood trickling from the corner of his mouth from when he had just coughed it up. The baby in his large belly was kicking roughly, and he could only bring a hand up to attempt to soothe it before he felt the telltale splash of his water breaking against his legs before his knees gave out, and he fell to the ground.

Minhyuk reached up enough to open the door, one hand splayed out over his stomach as he looked up at the guards that were standing there. He coughed again, a wet sound as he brought his free hand up to cover his mouth, and he could feel the blood against his hand as his vision blurred.

“Let’s get him into a room before the Priestesses kill us.” The deep-voiced guard said, and two sets of hands helped to pick Minhyuk up before he blacked out.

When he finally came to, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed, only that there were deep stitches in his belly and his hands and legs tied to the bedposts. He realised that he must have gone into labour the night of the full moon, causing him to still get aggressive and his features to transform slightly. Jaehyo came into the room and shut the door behind him, sitting down beside Minhyuk with a frown.

“It was a boy.” Minhyuk said, his voice a hoarse whisper as he looked at the other man, Jaehyo hesitated before nodding slowly, looking at the werewolf with sad eyes.

“He was beautiful.” Jaehyo said, his voice cracking as he took Minhyuk’s hand in his. The doctor’s blood red bond mark on his finger stood out against his pale skin, and the werewolf ran a finger over it as best as he could as he looked up at his friend. They sat in silence for a long moment, Minhyuk only filling it with coughs here and there.

“Did you know that Yukwon and I were going to name him Seungkwan?” Minhyuk asked, his voice quiet as he looked up at the ceiling.

“I didn’t.” Jaehyo said, squeezing Minhyuk’s hand gently.

“He would’ve been full werewolf, just like Yukwon and I are.” Minhyuk continued, his voice taking on a wistful tone as he thought about his Other Half and their son. “We were going to name him Seungkwan, and he was going to be perfect. I went into labour when they took me, Jaehyo.” He turned his head to look at his friend, his eyes filled with nothing but sadness. “I didn’t even get to hold him before a doctor was taking him from me, and as they left the room, his screams were silenced entirely. They killed my baby, the last thing I had of Yukwon.”

“Minhyuk, don’t do this to yourself.” Jaehyo said, and Minhyuk took in a shuddering breath as he barrelled on anyway.

“And then they killed him, Jaehyo. They killed my Bonded, they…” Minhyuk said, unable to continue for the moment as his vision blurred with tears. “And they took away my bond mark, and they kept using my body and getting me pregnant just to have their babies, which I can’t even  _ do _ anymore.”

“Don’t say it.” Jaehyo said, but Minhyuk didn’t listen as he looked at his friend with wide eyes.

“Please, Jaehyo.” Minhyuk whimpered, tears starting to fall down his cheeks as he looked at the doctor. “I have nothing to live for anymore. My Bonded is dead, my son is dead, I… I’m tainted and  _ broken _ , so just  _ fucking kill me already _ !”

“Stop!” Jaehyo shouted, Minhyuk struggling against the bonds that kept him tied to the bed as he screamed. The werewolf eventually broke out of them, but he just curled up into a ball on the bed, burying his face in between his knees as he sobbed. Jaehyo waited until he knew for certain that Minhyuk wouldn’t lash out before coming forward to hold him tightly, and the werewolf instead curled up into Jaehyo’s larger body and buried himself against him.

“I miss him so much.” Minhyuk said, barely able to get his words out as he cried into Jaehyo’s chest.

“I know Minhyuk, I know.” Jaehyo said, his arms winding tightly around the werewolf and refusing to let go.

He had already lost one friend — he couldn’t lose another.

* * *

 

Yoongi walked to his room with a grave expression on his face. He was trying to process everything that was said in his meeting with Namjoon. What Namjoon had decided hurt Yoongi more than anything, and he knew that his Bonded would be worse off when he brought him this news. And he  _ knew _ he had to do something about this and stop this plan of his. Luckily Namjoon was traveling at the moment so he could figure something out.

As he walked into his chambers, he saw Hoseok sitting on his bed with their son, Jihoon. The both of them looked up at him, Jihoon standing up and giving him a bow. Yoongi smiled and patted his shoulder before glancing at Hoseok. The strawberry blond gave him a questioning look, probably noticing Yoongi’s expression. Yoongi sighed and looked at his son. 

“Jihoon, can I have a word with your father alone please?” Yoongi asked the boy, causing Jihoon to give him a soft nod.

“Of course.” Jihoon said, bowing to them once more before walking out of his father’s chambers. Yoongi sighed and turned to Hoseok, sitting down on the bed next to him.

“So I have something you can pass on.” Yoongi said to his Bonded as Hoseok grabbed a hold onto his hand. “But it’s something you won’t like.”

“What?” Hoseok asked, softly intertwining their fingers. Yoongi enjoyed times like these, when Namjoon wasn’t around, so that he could be this way with the other man. They were going through really dark times, and he hoped this would end soon. Namjoon made life hell and everyone was suffering. And if you left, you were banished forever, so people had to leave in secret, without him knowing.

“So Namjoon found out that the Spymaster sent out his right hand man out on a special mission." Yoongi said. “And he knows it’s a mission that will destroy him. But he doesn’t actually know  _ what  _ the Spymaster is planning,  _ and _ he doesn’t know where the boy was sent. But we all know the Spymaster’s partner is Jungkook’s son, Bin. And Namjoon is a hundred percent positive that Jungkook is the Spymaster, so he wants to kill Jungkook.”

“Jungkook?” Hoseok asked with wide eyes. “But we know it’s not him. Did you speak up for him?”

“I can’t, Hobi.” Yoongi said, shaking his head. “Namjoon was speaking to me and his most trusted advisors. He doesn’t know that I’m friends with Jungkook, and he  _ can’t _ know I’m friends with Jungkook. We need to get him out of here without anyone knowing.”

“There’s only one person who can do that.” Hoseok said, causing Yoongi to nod his head. “Jimin. He is close with the Guardians. They can send us Baekhyun, who is the only one who can go between worlds. Jimin needs to talk to the Guardians.”

“Will Jimin tell anyone?” Yoongi said with a frown, causing Hoseok to snort.

“We’re talking about the Spymaster!” Hoseok said. “The Guardian’s most trusted man, the one who was closest to Seokjin and Taehyung, Jungkook’s best friend. There is no way in hell Jimin will tell anyone. He’s the one that’s most against Namjoon. God, that poor guy went through so much. He had to hide from Namjoon when he had his baby, and then his baby died.”

“Will Jungkook be ready to leave his side?” Yoongi asked, causing Hoseok to bite his lip and shake his head. “He came back a hundred eighty years ago to comfort him. Did you ever figure out who the father was?”

“Jimin won’t speak about it.” Hoseok said, shaking his head. “Besides, he and I have never become close enough to discuss it. He’s way too busy with the Spy network to really talk with me. But we’ll be okay. The God of Truth knows when not to say something important that will betray his  best friend. I’ll take off tomorrow to pass on the news. When does Namjoon get back?”

“The day after tomorrow.” Yoongi said, causing Hoseok to nod his head.

“Then when I go rely the information, you need to go to Jungkook and Jimin. Sadly we don’t get a goodbye.” Hoseok said with a deep sigh. “But once Bin’s mission succeeds, he’ll be able to come back.”

“Yes, if Bin’s mission  _ does  _ succeed.” Yoongi agreed. “Let’s hope it does.”

That next morning, Yoongi made his way over to Jimin’s quarters where the man was talking with Jungkook. The blond looked up as the blue haired man made his way into the room, causing the younger to jump up and give him a bow. Yoongi nodded at Jimin and glanced over at Jungkook, who was watching him closely. Yoongi pushed past them and leaned against the wall. He sighed deeply, not sure on how to actually start the conversation.

“I heard you went up to see Jinki the other day.” Yoongi said, glancing at the blond. “How did that go?”

“I can’t give anyone details about Jinki’s mission, if that’s what you’re trying to ask.” Jimin replied, crossing his arms. “It’s between me, Jinki, and Bin.”

“I understand.” Yoongi said, raising his hands in defense. “That’s not why I’m here. I was just curious.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just hard to know who to trust these days.” Jimin said with a deep sigh. “And I know you’re in Namjoon’s circle of advisors.”

“And I know you’re his right hand man.” Yoongi shot back, causing Jimin to slowly nod his head. “You’re lucky I haven’t told him you’re the Spymaster. But we’re Family, so we keep each other’s secrets.”

“You’re right.” Jimin said, nodding his head. “So why are you here?”

“Namjoon is set on the fact that your best friend here, Jungkook, is the Spymaster, because his son is your partner in this business.” Yoongi said. “And nothing said will change his mind. So we need to get Jungkook out of here, because otherwise he will kill Jungkook. Now, he can’t know that I’m the one who released this news. If he does find out, then we won’t have someone in his inner circle, and Jungkook has to leave without anyone knowing. We need to send him to his family in Epiphany.”

“But what about Bin?” Jungkook asked, walking over with wide eyes. 

“I’ll keep him updated." Jimin said, reassuring him gently. “So how should we do this.”

“We need you to get Baekhyun." Yoongi said. “Baekhyun is the only one who can get him out. Because you are in contact with the Guardians, you’re the one who can get Baekhyun.”

“Ah." Jimin hummed, nodding his head. Yoongi could see the boy’s expression change for a split second, a hidden meaning Yoongi knew he couldn’t crack. Something about Baekhyun’s name seemed to have set something off in the younger man. “I’ll get him.”

“Jungkook needs to leave today, or else he’s not safe." Yoongi said. “I’m sorry, but we have to.”


	7. Wonder pt. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are getting crazy now!

_ Junhong didn’t remember much of his childhood before he became friends with Himchan, but he did remember meeting the boy before they properly became friends. _

_ It was when Junhong was only two years old, a small blond boy in an orphanage that treated him horribly. He couldn’t explain for the life of him why his hair was naturally blond, and the other kids in the orphanage gave him a hard time because he was  _ different _ from them, and it hurt. He could remember one thing vividly, however, and it was the moment when he accidentally killed the runner of the orphanage. _

_ Her name was Han Sunhwa, and she had been a kind woman to the other kids. But to Junhong, a child who was so obviously different from the others, she was cruel. Junhong could remember a lot of darkness in his first two years of life, crying and sniffling until one of the other kids who had helped raise him — Sungwon, his name was, another casualty in his freak-out — found him in the closets he would hide him and lure him to sleep easily with off-key humming. _

_ He remembered that he had had a freak-out — someone had taken away his blue bunny stuffed animal — over something small, of course. Being two years old made everything seem so…  _ important _. _

_ Junhong had screamed loudly, expecting someone to come in and tell him to be quiet, or maybe Sungwon to come into the room with the stuffed animal safely in his arms, but nobody had come to him to see what was wrong (he had long forgotten the detail that his head had hurt badly when he screamed, as if someone had hit him). _

_ The curly haired boy slid off of the bed carefully and wandered around the large house, sidestepping the children laying on the ground in variously strange positions. He first went into Sungwon’s room, seeing his hyung laying down on the bed, and his young mind told him to not wake the other boy up (even though playtime with Sungwon was usually done in his hyung’s bed with the door closed, and while the small boy wasn’t a fan of the game Sungwon always wanted to play, he loved spending time with his hyung). Pouting at his bad luck, Junhong slowly made his way through the house and past all the children until he made it into Sunhwa’s room, finding his blue bunny in her grasp. Noticing that she was sleeping as well, Junhong carefully took the stuffed animal out of her grasp and ran out of the room giggling, the bunny pressed to his chest as if someone else would try to take it away. _

_ He then had slowly made his way down the stairs to the kitchen, happy that none of the children had woken up to push him down the stairs again (he already had a black eye and various cuts from his several tumbles down the three flights of stairs, the other children not caring enough that as a two year old, he still couldn’t navigate them well enough). The blond boy pouted once again when he saw that nobody was in the kitchen, but the open front door had caught his eye. _

_ Being only two years old, he hadn’t been allowed outside of the orphanage without being in the company of someone who was older than him. That had meant that he had never been outside before, Sungwon unable to take him as he had been busy with his homework, and the temptation to do it now was too much. _

_ Slowly, the curly haired boy made his way over to the front door, looking outside with wide eyes. Junhong hesitated only for a moment before stepping over the threshold, careful with the two steps that led to the sidewalk. He held onto his blue bunny tightly as he slowly made his way down the sidewalk, taking care not to run into any of the people passing by him (usually bumping into any of the children in the orphanage would result in playtime, and he wasn’t really fond of playtime with any of the other kids). _

_ He eventually made it to a colourful storefront, and the small boy looked up at it with wide eyes. Through the window, there was a red haired boy who was older than him sitting at a table eating something, and Junhong’s stomach grumbled. Gathering up the confidence, he knocked on the window with a tiny fist, looking up at the boy with wide eyes as the boy looked back down at him. The red haired boy seemed startled and concerned to see him, but that didn’t register in Junhong’s brain as the boy disappeared from the window, and his bottom lip quivered as his brown eyes welled up with tears. _

_ “Sh, don’t cry.” A soft voice said from beside him, and Junhong looked up with wide eyes as the boy from the window crouched down beside him. He lifted both of his arms up, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout, and the boy chuckled and picked him up. “My name is Himchan, but you can call me hyung. What is your name?” _

_ “Junhongie!” The blond boy said happily, clutching onto Himchan’s shirt with his free hand as the other was still holding onto his blue bunny. _

_ “Hello there Junhongie.” Himchan said, and the older boy walked them back into the shop to sit back down at the table. “Does your bunny have a name?” _

_ “Bunny!” Junhong said, not quite understanding everything Himchan was saying. The red haired boy smiled softly and nodded once, keeping Junhong in his lap as he looked up. The blond boy was too focused on his bunny to pay attention to anything Himchan was saying, but his attention was pulled when he was pulled out of Himchan’s lap. _

_ “Junhong-ah, do you know where you live?” A man with a kind smile said, but Junhong pouted as he pointed to Himchan again. _

_ “Hyung.” Junhong said, and the man chuckled before handing him back to Himchan. The blond boy clutched onto his shirt and pointed outside, his eyes wide. “Home.” _

_ Junhong lead them easily back to the orphanage, the front door still wide open. He could see the children sleeping inside, and he looked up at Himchan with wide eyes. _

_ “Quiet.” He said, pressing a finger to his lips, and both Himchan and the man copied his gesture before going inside. The man walked further inside and waved at Himchan, the older boy sitting down in a chair with Junhong in his lap. _

_ Junhong didn’t remember too much after that, only remembering that the man had looked sad when he joined Himchan and him again. Men with stern expressions joined them, and one woman dressed in all white had wiped his face with a sad smile directed to him. _

_ He remembered being taken to the hospital, several tests of all type being run on him over the course of many days before he was allowed to leave. He didn’t know why he couldn’t go back home, but Himchan told him that they would be staying together for a long time, and Junhong was happy. _

* * *

 

Junhong opened his eyes after taking a deep breath, looking around the table as they all worked together to make a plan. He felt slightly uneasy, as if he was going to vomit, but he wasn’t sure if it was going to be vomit leaving his mouth or if it was going to be something else. Either way, he just had a horrible feeling.

“We need to keep the four  _ dimis _ safe above anything else if they are going to fight.” Hakyeon said, looking at Wonshik with a frown. As the blond man tuned back into the conversation, he could see Dongmin shifting in and out of focus with a nervous expression on his face.

“What about you, Hakyeon?” Wonshik said, his voice rough as he looked across the table to his Bonded. “You’re the only one who knows how to lead this kingdom, why aren’t you fighting with us?”

“This isn’t the time for that conversation.” A man said, and Taekwoon turned to look at him with a slight frown.

“Yixing, you’ll have to escort Dongmin to the safe point.” Hakyeon said, completely ignoring Wonshik this time, and he turned his attention to the man beside Taekwoon (who Junhong realised must have been Yixing). The red haired elf pulled out his dagger and straightened from his bent over position on the table, looking at Yixing. “He could go into labour at any moment.”

“And what about you, your Majesty?” Yixing said, and there was a sharp intake of breath from Wonshik’s direction. Hakyeon swallowed heavily before shaking his head, refusing to look at his Bonded.

“I’ll be okay. It’s too early.” The redhead said. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Junhong could see that he was trying very hard not to cry. “Trust me, Yixing.”

“When were you going to  _ tell _ me?” Wonshik said, his voice nothing but a growl as his eyes blazed a bright yellow. The shouting was starting to get to Junhong, and he closed his eyes with a rub to his temples.

“Are you okay?” Himchan whispered to him, a gentle hand on the blond’s hip, and he nodded slowly as he took in a deep breath.

“I think so, my head just hurts.” Junhong said, opening his eyes as he looked at Himchan. The elder man blinked in surprise and jolted slightly, and the curly haired man could hear his friend swallowing heavily.

“Your eyes, bunny.” Himchan said, and Junhong could only look at him confusedly before there was a loud banging on the doors leading to the throne room (which they were currently in, he had barely noticed until the noise came about).

“My  _ head _ .” Junhong groaned deeply, his knees buckling, and the talk around the table stopped as he crumpled to the ground.

“Junhong!” Sanha said, almost falling to his knees beside him, but Yixing held up a hand to stop him. The healer slowly moved around the table, and Junhong looked up at him with hooded eyes as his hands shook.

“Have your eyes always been blue?” Yixing asked, and Junhong could only manage to shake his head before a short scream of pain was ripped from his throat. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hakyeon and Dongmin shimmering in unison while the others brought their hands up to cover their ears, and Yixing gave him a critical look.

“What is happening to me?” Junhong said, his teeth gritting together as he looked up at the healer, but Yixing didn’t say anything. He pulled Junhong along on the floor until he was facing the open door, and he waved the others to stand behind him.

“I’m not one hundred percent certain, Junhong.” Yixing said, a gentle hand resting on his side as he motioned to the door. “But when those doors shake again, I want you to focus on that pain you just felt. Can you do that?”

“Hard not to.” Junhong said, feeling something trickling down from his lips but paying it no attention as the doors shook again. With Yixing’s guiding hand on his side, the blond man let the pain in his body take over again, letting out a long and loud scream. A pinch on his arm brought him back to the present, and he noticed that the doors had been blasted open. Whatever had been behind them was now on the ground far below, and it made Junhong thankful for the fact that this castle was up in the trees like a treehouse.

“What just happened?” Junhong said, able to stand up with Yixing’s help. Wonshik’s normal tanned skin was pale as they made eye contact, and the curly haired man brought a hand up to wipe at his lips.

“I think that you’re a banshee.” Hakyeon said, both him and Dongmin placing hands on their stomachs in a moment of uneasiness as the word was said. “They’re extremely rare, especially so for you to be born as one.”

“That would make you —”

“Don’t say it.” Junhong said, interrupting Taekwoon’s words as he turned to face the table once more. He thought for a moment before looking at Hakyeon, his eyes narrowing. “We’re being ambushed, right? Do you think there will be more people?”

“If what Youngjae said is true, and Lu Han’s behind all this, then absolutely.” Hakyeon said, a slight smirk appearing on his lips as he realised what Junhong was saying with his questions. “New plan. Yixing, get Dongmin out of here and try to save as many civilians as you can. Sanha, go with him. It’ll be the safest for you since you’re the youngest, but you’ll most likely still be fighting. Wonshik, you take Taekwoon, Hongbin, and Himchan to the armory and get the explosives. We’ll have to create a big enough distraction for the army to follow after. Since Lu Han has his sights on me, I’ll stay here with Youngjae, Minhyuk, and Junhong.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Himchan said, looking around the table anxiously.

“Yes. Sirens and nymphs are naturally attracted to loud sounds and bright lights.” Taekwoon said, his normally quiet voice loud in the silence as it echoed around the room. “His army is going to be composed of most of those. And if we have Himchan with us, the werewolves will smell fresh blood.”

“Great, I’m bait.” Himchan said, a frown on his face as he still wrapped a belt around his waist that had a sword in its scabbard attached to it.

“I’ll work on how many people are headed your way.” Bin said, looking at Junhong with a slight smirk. “As a banshee, like all other creatures that aren’t human, you can hear specific frequencies as if I was transmitting them directly to you. I’ll send the army movements through the radio waves so you all up here and everywhere else can be prepared.”

“How is that possible?” Junhong asked, holding up a hand as Bin opened his mouth to explain. “Never mind,  _ magic _ is enough of an explanation for me.”

“Alright, let’s get moving.” Hakyeon said, effectively ending the meeting, and Junhong watched as Wonshik came up to him to kiss him passionately. The blond couldn’t make himself look away until the werewolf pressed a hand to Hakyeon’s stomach, and he realised that the King was also carrying a child (he was nowhere near as far along as his younger brother was, but the baby was still there). He turned to face Himchan, the two of them easily clinging onto each other.

“Please be safe.” Himchan said, mumbling softly into his ear as he held onto the taller. When they pulled away, the red haired man brought a hand up to wipe a last remnant of blood away from the corner of his lips. “Just like the day we met, bunny. We’re talking about this later.”

“Of course.” Junhong said, the elder of the two pressing their foreheads together for a moment before walking away to join his group. He ruffled Sanha’s hair as he passed, and then it was just the four of them.

“It might be a while before any of them come.” Hakyeon said, sinking into the throne that was on the opposite end of the room from where the double doors were.

“Are you sure about that?” A voice said, and their heads turned to face a corner of the room. A small figure slunk out of the shadows, and Junhong’s eyes widened as he realised just how  _ beautiful _ the man was (and that was never a good sign, of course). “Beautiful performance, by the way, your Majesty. I didn’t realise you were pregnant. Maybe you should have gone off with your werewolf whore.”

“Lu Han.” Hakyeon said, and Junhong’s blood ran cold as the man smirked.

They were in deep shit.

* * *

 

Sanha walked behind Dongmin as they all gathered the civilians, staying close to the elf. He had his hand around the hilt of small dagger Jinki had given him, the sword long forgotten in the throne room where they left Junhong and Minhyuk. The group of three made it over to where a group of civilians were cowered in a corner, and Yixing waved for them to follow, falling behind the crowd. They picked up as many civilians as they could, heading up a hallway that led to the back of the castle. 

“Where are we going?” Sanha asked, glancing back at the people that were  following them. Little kids were clinging onto the adults or their older siblings. The orange haired boy bit his lip and turned back towards the elf spirit, knowing exactly how the civilians felt, but he had to be strong because he had to lead this innocent people into safety and get back to his friends in one piece. 

“My father — Taemin — has enchanted a part of the forest where it plays as a safe haven in case of an attack, like tonight." Dongmin said, turning a corner and moving a rug that was hiding a door to a hidden passageway. “I’m going to lead the people out. I want you to help everyone down the ladder and then follow Yixing out. Come down with me and then help when we get down there.”

“Okay." Sanha said, nodding his head. Dongmin then turned to look at the people that were behind them.

“Everyone, come down this ladder. When you get down, follow me." He instructed them. He then climbed down the ladder with Sanha coming down behind him. Once he was on the ground, he helped the people down one by one, helping them land softly onto the ground after climbing down the long ladder. He watched as everyone followed Dongmin, keeping very close to the elf spirit. As Yixing came down, he closed the door behind him before making his way down to Sanha. When he got down, he placed his hand on Sanha’s back and led him towards the people that were walking in a huge cluster.

As they walked, they found more stranglers, ushering them into the group. The orange haired boy stayed alert, looking around at their surroundings to make sure the people were safe. Young children were crying in fright, breaking Sanha’s heart. The boy wanted to go back to his friends, but he knew he was doing an important job by bringing the people to safety. He didn’t know if he would be able to handle the things his friends were going through at the moment — he didn’t think he could be as brave as any of the others.

As if the forest was listening to his thoughts, rustling was heard in the trees. Everyone started freaking out, running faster than Dongmin. Yixing ran up so that he was in front of the people, calming them down and directing them towards a large archway. Dongmin fell to the back, ushering everyone inside. Sanha glanced around, noticing he was the only one left on the pathway, and he glanced at the elf spirit with wide eyes before he was suddenly attacked from behind. Sanha whipped around, miraculously blocking the attacker with his small dagger — a dagger that otherwise wouldn’t stand a chance.

Sanha stared down at the dagger in shock before looking up at a hooded man in black. The man reached out to attack, but once again Sanha blocked his long talons with his dagger. He backed away, glancing down at the dagger, which was glowing red. He stared at it with wide eyes before glancing at the taloned man. The man tried to attack again, pushing Sanha to the ground. The orange haired boy stared up at him with wide eyes as the man came down on him. The dagger glowed a brighter red as Sanha brought it up, stabbing the man in the stomach. 

As the man shrunk back, Dongmin ran over to Sanha, pulling him up. The two then ran towards the archway, both running into the clearing where everyone was now sitting. There was a pool off water that dropped into a river on one side, on the other was a waterfall coming out from the wall of a mountain. Sanha fell to the grass on his hands and knees, shaking from his small battle he had with the hooded man. He’s never felt so scared in his whole life. He wasn’t planning on fighting anyone, but he was so glad that he had his dagger.

“Are you okay?” The elf spirit asked, dropping down next to him and wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Sanha slowly shook his head, looking up at him with wide, fear filled eyes.

“I didn’t know we would be attacked.” Sanha whispered, tightening his grip on the hilt of his dagger. “I was so scared.”

“You did amazing, Sanha.” Dongmin said, reassuring him with a soft smile. “You have a pretty special dagger there.”

“Jinki gave it to me.” The boy in question said. “He said it would keep me safe.”

“And he was right.” Dongmin said, nodding his head. “Thank goodness it did.”

* * *

 

“Bait, that’s all I am.” Himchan mumbled to himself as he followed Wonshik through the castle in the trees, shaking his head as they stopped for a moment. There were footsteps on the ground beneath them, and the red haired man let out a shaky breath once the werewolf in front of him started to move forward once again.

“Yep, bait.” Hongbin said, grinning widely as he patted the other man on the shoulder roughly. “Don’t worry, werewolves like to play with their prey. Hakyeon would know, he  _ loves _ it.”

“If you weren’t Bonded, I would throw you into the ocean with rocks tied around your ankles for that comment.” Wonshik said, and Himchan smiled slightly as both Taekwoon and Hongbin snickered from behind him.

“Tell me I’m wrong.” Hongbin said, and the werewolf stopped to grin… well,  _ wolfishly _ at the three behind him.

“I’m surprised you can’t hear just how much he loves it on full moon nights.” He said, and the four of them were howling in laughter.

Himchan felt like he belonged in this world, surrounded by these people, and it scared him just as much as it excited him. He knew that being here was going to do him some good — hell, he could already feel himself loosening up just from this small exchange.

“You would love it, you know.” Taekwoon said, whispering softly to Himchan, and the man in question blinked curiously as he looked back at the other.

“What do you mean?” Himchan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Being Bonded to a werewolf, if you’re lucky enough.” Taekwoon said, giving Himchan an obviously rare smile. “Not just because of the rough sex, of course. But werewolves are fiercely loyal, and they love with all of their heart.”

“I’m assuming Yixing is a werewolf, then, the way you talk about them so fondly.” Himchan said, and the siren nodded once.

“He has a son, you know. His name is Minghao.” Taekwoon said, making sure to keep quiet as they kept moving forward on the tree branches. “He’s only seventy-three years old, of course, but he’s a sweetheart.”

“Right, time is totally different here.” Himchan said, reminding himself of that fact with a small smile.

“Alright, we’re here.” Wonshik said, interrupting the conversation as they made it to a slight break in the trees. The armory was still built up into them, obviously camouflaged underneath so nobody would sneak up there and steal anything if they wanted to. As Himchan followed the older man in through the side door, he looked around with wide eyes at all of the space that was in there. Hongbin snapped his fingers, and suddenly the  _ space _ that was in the armory turned into rows and rows of explosives.

“These are organic, of course.” Hongbin said, smirking at Himchan’s awed expression. “Filled with magic, too. These bombs disorrient anybody who’s near them.”

“That’s awesome.” Himchan breathed out, looking around until he looked at Wonshik with wide eyes. “So… bait?”

“Yep, bait.” Wonshik said, looking at the human with a slight smile. “They’ll be here eventually, if things work out the way they should. These explosives are very strong, and they ring on a frequency that our supernatural hearing can pick up on. They’ll hear us loud and clear.”

* * *

 

Minhyuk exchanged uneasy glances with Junhong, not sure of what to do. He didn’t know if he should be alarmed, or just stay calm during the whole exchange. Though he didn’t know what he would do if Lu Han were to attack them. He didn’t know if his bow and arrow would actually do anything against the man. At this point it would be safe to say that he was probably doomed. That is until Lu Han started talking.

“Youngjae." The Siren King said, looking at the boy Minhyuk didn’t even know. “I see you were rescued. You should have died after your betrayal.”

“You made me kill my father." The siren growled. “All because you didn’t want anyone to find out that you’re a servant of chaos and who your little friends are. I’m so glad I’m no longer under your control! You —”

“Silence!” The man shouted, causing Youngjae to drop down to his knees, covering his ears.

“Does that hurt him?” Minhyuk whispered to his friend, causing Junhong to nod his head. “Why?”

“Youngjae is a siren, and Lu Han is the Siren King." Junhong said. “Probably has something to do with wavelengths or some shit, I don’t know.”

“I see the Spymaster sent you some young ones." Lu Han said, nodding at the two  _ dimis _ standing on either side of Hakyeon on the throne. “You know, I found out who the Spymaster is. Once I’m done here with you, I’m sending word straight to the others. When he’s gone, it will be so much easier to take over Prologue. Euphoria is almost mine! Once I finish my raid, I’ll have Euphoria to myself. Serendipity is almost taken over as well, since Namjoon has it in his clutches. He just needs to get rid of the Spymaster. He’s a fool and he’s trying to kill the wrong man.”

“Spymaster?” Minhyuk asked in confusion, looking at Junhong. “What’s that? Who the hell is the Spymaster?”

“Obviously someone on our side." The blond said, shrugging his shoulders.

“So there’s four people trying to overtake the four worlds?” Hakyeon asked, helping Youngjae up before sitting back down on the throne. “And you want to take my kingdom from me?”

“This guy is full of shit." Minhyuk said with a snort, loud enough for the Siren King to hear. The man looked at him, suddenly jumping right in front of his face.

“Say that one more time." The man said with a dangerous tone of voice, grabbing a hold of Minhyuk’s collar and causing the boy to drop his bow in surprise. 

“Let me go." Minhyuk said, watching from the side of his vision as Junhong picked up the bow and loaded it with an arrow.

“Let him go." Junhong said, aiming the arrow at him. “Or I’ll shoot. And I’ll scream. Apparently I have a pretty mean scream.”

If they were in any other position, Minhyuk would actually laugh. But he was currently gasping for air, barely able to breathe because of the man’s tight grip. He closed his eyes, trying to think of a way to get rid of him. He knew the arrow probably wouldn’t do jack against this guy. How the hell were you supposed to kill a Siren?

“Why don’t you burn in Hell." Minhyuk choked out, causing the man to immediately let go of him as he erupted in flames. The group all stared in shock, Minhyuk on the ground, having fallen onto his back after Lu Han let go of him. The brown haired boy stared in surprise as the man flailed his arms and tried to run around to get rid of the fire.

“What did you do?” Lu Han shouted, falling to the ground. “What kind of magic is this?”

The four watched as the fire fully engulfed him, shutting the Siren King up. When he was completely gone, the fire went out, leaving no trace of Lu Han but a scorch mark on the ground. Minhyuk was way too shocked to even stand up, not even sure what he just did. He looked over at Junhong, who had a goofy grin on his face. Who knew Minhyuk had that kind of power?

“I guess we just had to set him on fire." Youngjae said, staring at the scorch mark. “Who knew!”

“— _ How? _ ” Minhyuk asked, looking up at the red headed king as he helped him stand up.

“You, child, have Guardian magic." The elf spirit said. “Only Guardians and their children, and I guess even their grandchildren, can use fire magic. Even then, it’s rare to find a fire magic user. Other than the Guardians, Taehyung and Baekhyun were the only known fire magic users. I guess you inherited a lot from your father.”

“Did I inherit anything from Jimin?” Minhyuk said, glancing over at his best friend who just shrugged his shoulders.

“You got his personality." Hakyeon said with a laugh, just as the door crashed open and three people crashed in. Minhyuk turned just as one with yellow eyes and bared fangs barreled him over. As soon as the boy was on the ground once again, the man tore his teeth into Minhyuk’s skin, causing him to holler out in pain. Soon the man was thrown off him with an arrow in his back. Minhyuk closed his eyes in pain, ignoring everything that was going on around him as he brought his hand up to his torn collarbone. 

After what felt like ages, he felt three pairs of hands lift him up. He could hear talking, but he couldn’t understand anything that was being said as he was laid down on a table. After a few deep breaths, Minhyuk opened his eyes, his whole body shaking. He met eyes with Junhong, who grabbed both of his hands to calm him down. Hakyeon, who had summoned water and rags out of thin air, placed a wet rag on the boy’s forehead. He then proceeded to clean Minhyuk’s wound.

“W-what happened?” Minhyuk said, shivering as if he were cold. His whole body felt weird and clammy. 

“You — you were bit by a werewolf." Hakyeon said. 

“And since you weren’t killed," Youngjae added, causing Minhyuk to turn his head and look at him. “You’re turning into one.”

“Way to go!” Junhong joked. “My best friend; the killer of the Siren King one moment, becoming a werewolf the next. Minhyuk, I wouldn’t expect anything less!”

“Wait." Minhyuk said, feeling a sharp pain in his gums. “Is this bad?”

“After the first three nights, you will have control of yourself." Hakyeon said. “You were bitten on the first full moon of three. You will have a couple of rough nights. Once Yixing and Wonshik get back, they’ll assist you as much as they can before the moon takes them. Right now, just rest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always let me know if you liked it in the comments below!
> 
> i'm accepting requests and prompts in my tumblr! rozalty.tumblr.com


	8. Wonder pt. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> final part of wonder! hope you enjoy :)

_ Taehyung glanced over at his Bonded with a soft smile, placing his hand on his while everyone was coming into the dining hall. He was nervous about having to leave his land, about having to leave Jimin’s side. He’d never been away from his Bonded, but he was excited to take this adventure. He was going to help the poor in the outskirts and help them build shelter and a safe place to live. He was going to help them get food and water and help with the sick. People had known him as the god of Compassion because of his kind and caring nature. It would be an honor for the people to get this service from Taehyung, a son of one of the Guardians. _

_ The people of Serendipity were holding a celebratory dinner for him. They wanted to send him off peacefully and to give him gifts he would need for his travels. Everyone knew how much this meant to their King and they wanted to support him, and Taehyung couldn’t be anymore grateful.  _

_ He removed his hand from Jimin’s and looked over at Hoseok, who was sitting on the other side of him. Between him and Yoongi was their son, Jihoon. Taehyung gave a smile towards the small boy before glancing around the room again, watching as some of the civilians walked in, followed by Namjoon. Namjoon gave Taehyung a bright smile, sitting down on the other side of Jimin. Taehyung glanced over at Jimin, who shifted awkwardly after the man sat down next to him. The brown haired man brought his hand down and placed it on Jimin’s knee, squeezing it softly to assure him that it was okay. _

_ “Greetings, everyone!” Hoseok said, standing up with a huge smile on his face. Everyone who was talking quieted down and turned their attention to their ‘gods’. “It’s really great for all of you to come here tonight. Taehyung here has been  _ really _ passionate about this. To go out like this to the poor really means the world to him, and I’ve never seen him happier. It means a lot to him to get the support from his people.” _

_ “I could say that myself.” Taehyung said with a laugh, punching his best friend’s arm. Hoseok mocked a pained expression, causing the people to laugh. Taehyung then looked around at all the people in the room. “But Hobi is right. I’m really excited to be going out like this. And I really want to thank all of you for coming here tonight to send me off. I truly am going to miss all of you. And I do hope to come back to a healthy community like we have right now. And while I’m gone, I do ask you all to please give my second in command, Jimin, the respect and love that you show me on a daily basis.” _

_ After a collective cheer of approval, Taehyung nodded his head, and his strawberry blond haired friend sat down again. A servant then came out and handed all five of the leaders a glass of wine, before bowing and walking away. Taehyung could feel Namjoon’s eyes on him as he picked up his glass, but didn’t think anything of it. The group of five all lifted their drinks up high, looking around at all the people in the room. The people all lifted up their drinks as well, toasting their King. The brown haired man then placed the glass to his lips, sipping his wine, and everyone else followed suit. Once he placed down his cup, food starting appearing in front of everyone. Taehyung glanced over at Jimin, who was staring at him fondly. The blond looked away from him shyly, picking up his fork and poking at his food. _

_ Taehyung chuckled and started eating while everyone started talking amongst each other. Hoseok reached over and took a piece of meat off Taehyung’s plate without the other noticing until Taehyung turned to look at his plate. The boy frowned and turned over to his best friend, who was in the middle of taking a bite. The little boy next to Hoseok was laughing hysterically at his father, clapping his hands.  The five leaders stared at the boy with soft smiles.  _

_ “Yoongi, I’m going to miss your son, I swear.” Taehyung said, reaching over Hoseok and ruffling the boy’s hair. “Woozi, make sure to take care of your father for me, will you?” _

_ “Yes.” The boy in question said happily, nodding his head once. _

_ “I’ll miss you.” The King said before turning to eat his food. He held a conversation with Jimin and Hoseok while eating his food, keeping his left hand on Jimin’s knee. As the dinner got closer to an end, Taehyung started to feel more and more sad. He knew he was going to miss Jimin more than anything. And when he finally dismissed the civilians, he stood up and went straight for his room. He knew Jimin was following him, but he could feel the tears forming in his eyes and he didn’t want anyone else to see him cry. _

_ When they made it back to Taehyung’s room, Jimin shut the door and immediately pulled him into a hug. The brown haired man turned and let himself cry into Jimin’s chest. The blond hugged him tighter, kissing the crown of his head. The younger boy suddenly didn’t have a good feeling about leaving. He felt like something bad was going to happen. _

_ “Hey, it’s okay.” Jimin said, pulling back and looking into his eyes. He brought his hand up and wiped the younger boy’s tears. “I’m not going to go anywhere.” _

_ “I’m going to miss you so much.” Taehyung whispered, causing the blond to give him a sad smile and lean over to peck his lips. Taehyung pulled him closer, deepening the kiss needily.  _

_ “Are you okay?” Jimin asked after he pulled away from the kiss, catching the other’s eye. “Talk to me. What’s really going on? I can tell something is bothering you. You know I’m going to write to you every day. So even if you’re gone, you’re not really going to be gone.” _

_ “Jimin.” The man said in a whisper, stuttering over his Bonded’s name. “I feel — I feel like we’re not going to see each other for a very long time. Even though I’m coming back in a couple years — I feel like it’s going to be many years until we see each other again.” _

_ “This is our first time we’re going to be separated." his Bonded said, that sad smile still on his face. “It’s natural to feel that way.” _

_ “That’s not what I mean, Jimin.” Taehyung said, shaking his head. “I seriously have this terrible feeling in my gut. Jimin, I really don’t know what it is. But I just know this is the last time I’m going to see you for a long time.” _

_ “Taehyung, what are you talking about?” Jimin asked in confusion, the smile completely erased off his face. “This isn’t the last time you’re going to see me.” _

_ “It is for a very long time.” Taehyung replied before turning around and grabbing his travel bag. He slipped it over his shoulder before turning back to Jimin. He kissed him one last time before heading towards the door. “Goodbye, Jimin. I really hope I’m wrong. I love you,  _ so _ much. I’ll miss you.” _

_ “Taehyung —” Jimin said, trying to call after him, but Taehyung ignored him and walked away with tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn’t face him any longer, or else he would find a way to actually stay. _

_ He knew he had to go. _

* * *

 

Being the complete dork that he is, and letting his shyness overtake him, Junhong booked it out of the throne room right after Hakyeon had announced that they were safe. He wasn’t ready to face Himchan or Sanha after Minhyuk’s sudden turning into a werewolf — he just didn’t want to be blamed for something that had been out of his control entirely.

At Hakyeon’s insistence, Junhong was being led through the castle and the various trees to private chambers that were half the size of the ones he had woken up in at Jinki’s palace. He bowed back to the servant before closing the door, looking back at the bed. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep once he hit the sheets, but it was the pure vividness of his dream that made him wonder whether or not he was awake or if he was truly asleep.

Junhong looked around the misty area, being able to point out grass and grey statues but little else with how thick the fog was around him. Nervous from his surroundings, he brought a hand up to his necklace, his fingers closing around the locket and the ring hanging from the silver chain around his neck.

“I see he gave you the locket.” A voice said from behind him, and Junhong turned around quickly to see a shorter man leaning against a stone archway that he was sure hadn’t been there before. Junhong watched him with narrowed eyes, running a hand through his curly blond hair and thinking for a moment before speaking.

“Who are you?” He asked, and the man just laughed instead of giving him an answer. Junhong watched as the man stepped forward into the proper lighting, blond hair pulled up into a top knot and thick, black frames around his eyes. He had a royal blue shirt hanging loosely off of his frame, striped with white, with a printed shirt underneath, and he was wearing light coloured jeans with rips in the knees. He looked utterly…

“Human.” Junhong said, and the man hummed softly.

“You wouldn’t be the first to mistake me for one.” The man said, smiling lightly as he moved closer to Junhong. The boy stayed still as this stranger walked around him, feeling strangely at ease with what was happening. “You may call me… Jjong.”

“Jjong?” Junhong said, his voice giving away how startled he was as he looked down at the other man. The voice in the back of his mind noticed how familiar they looked, but he was quick to ignore the voice as well as pushing down his hopes so they wouldn’t rise.

“A nickname from an old friend.” Jjong said, tilting his head to the side as he stopped to stand in front of the younger. They looked at each other for a long moment before Junhong’s hand dropped to his side, and Jjong raised his own to look at the ring.

“Like I told Jinki, my parents left me at the orphanage with this ring.” Junhong said, not wanting to hear the question again. He may have been a lot of things, but he wasn’t a thief.

“I never said otherwise.” Jjong said, pointing out the obvious, and the boy grumbled under his breath as Jjong grew closer. He noticed that an unreadable expression had flashed through the man’s eyes, but Junhong ignored is at Jjong let go of the ring on the chain around his neck.

“Where are we?” Junhong said, looking around as he cleared his throat. He didn’t recognise this place, so he assumed that they were somewhere in Prologue.

“Epilogue.” Jjong said, his voice filled with both fondness and sadness as he kept his eyes on Junhong. While the boy wasn’t looking at the other, he could feel that blue eyed gaze on him as if the wind was blowing by. “It’s… kinda like the afterlife of Prologue. Like the Underworld is when it comes to Greek mythology.”

“You know about Greek mythology?” Junhong asked, and Jjong laughed loudly while nodding. The laugh echoed off the statues around them, and Junhong sighed quietly as he looked at the other.

“I was born as a human. Look at where that got me.” Jjong said, sighing as he stopped his laughing. Two hands were placed onto Junhong’s cheeks, forcing the boy to look down at the shorter man. Brown eyes met blue as Jjong took a careful look at him, and those brown eyes welled up with tears. “Junhongie… you’ve grown so much.”

At those words, Junhong was instantly taken back to when he would dream in the orphanage and at Himchan’s place, hearing that exact voice saying his name and wracking his brain as to where it had come from.

“How did you know that?” Junhong said, his voice faltering as he looked down at the shorter man. Jjong let go of his face and held out his left forearm, the blood mark there starting to glow a deep red. Junhong expected to be disappointed, but he could feel a tingling coming from his arm, and he slowly looked down to see the same shape taking form on his pale skin.

It wasn’t anything crazy, just a circle that was slowly filling in with teardrop shapes dots. But the mark expanded, the teardrops dripping down to his wrist and down his hand before stopping at fingers. The teardrops had lessened the further down they had travelled on his skin, and Junhong looked at it with a slight frown before back up at Jjong, who was smiling widely.

“Everything will be explained to you soon, bunny.” He said, and Junhong frowned as he heard the nickname.

“How did you know that Himchan-hyung called me that?” Junhong said, his voice still at a whisper as their surroundings started to disappear — obviously a sign that he was waking up.

“I’ve been watching you, my love.” Jjong said, and he could only raise his hand in a wave before Junhong was shooting up in the bed, his skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He panted heavily and ran both hands through his hair before falling back against the pillows, closing his eyes for a moment.

To make sure that it wasn’t just a dream and it was something  _ more _ , Junhong lifted up his left forearm. The deep red blood mark had appeared on his skin, and the curly haired man smiled widely. He had been left with more questions than answers, but he had a  _ father _ now.

Hopefully the days to come would help him answer his questions.

* * *

 

“I need to talk to you.” Minhyuk heard Hakyeon say, causing the boy to open his eyes. He had closed them due to the pain shooting through his body, not noticing that he started to doze off. Minhyuk glanced over to see Hakyeon’s Bonded standing in the doorway of the room with Bin. Junhong was nowhere to be seen. “We had a little bit of an… incident to say the least.”

“What’s going on?” Bin asked, trying to look around the King’s shoulder. 

“Well… the good news is that Lu Han is gone.” The red haired King said as Sanha, Himchan and Dongmin also came into view. “Minhyuk sort of blew him up.”

“Blew him up?” Himchan said. “Where is he? And Junhong?”

“How did he blow him up?” Sanha said before anyone could answer Himchan’s question.

“He’s a fire magic user.” Hakyeon explained to them. “A rare form of Guardian magic. He —”

“Guardian magic?” Himchan asked in confusion. “How does he have Guardian magic?”

“Oh right, you don’t know about Taehyung, do you hyung?” Sanha said. “Taehyung was Jimin’s Bonded. He was Minho’s son, the Guardian of Serendipity. So he was Minhyuk’s other father. He passed away before Minhyuk was born. And I guess he acquired Taehyung’s magic.”

“And Jimin’s.” Bin added. “He hasn’t shown it yet, but he probably has a bit of Jimin’s magic. Only until he comes into his magical maturity, of course, then he will only have one or the other.”

“Now guys.” Hakyeon said, glancing over his shoulder at Minhyuk who was watching the group. He nervously licked his lips before glancing back at the group. “After Minhyuk killed Lu Han, we were attacked by Lu Han’s guard. And one of them… was a werewolf. He attacked Minhyuk and Minhyuk was bitten… Junhong killed the werewolf before he could kill Minhyuk. Our only issue is… Minhyuk —”

“— is now a werewolf." Wonshik finished for his Bonded, causing the King to nod his head. Himchan pushed around everyone without a word, catching eye contact with Minhyuk. He then ran over to Minhyuk, grabbing the younger boy’s hand in his own, Sanha joining them seconds later.

“Are you okay?” Himchan asked, worry lacing his voice. Minhyuk was starting to grow more and more restless and he was mad that he could barely keep control of himself in front of his hyung. He couldn’t even speak, wrestling against the restraints that were holding him to the table he was on.

“He needs to be brought up to his room." Hakyeon said, glancing at Wonshik who was also getting restless. “But um… I need to take Wonshik away. I’m guessing Yixing is already with Taekwoon. I’ll leave this to you, Bin.”

Everyone watched ast Hakyeon then dragged Wonshik away. Minhyuk started to thrash more, causing Himchan and Sanha to both step back in alarm. Minhyuk started to feel needy and his body started sweating as if he were in heat. He wanted to cry because it all felt extremely frustrating. He wanted to talk to his friends, but his whole mind was clouded and he didn’t want to be tied down. But at the same time, his whole body was in pain and he still felt extremely clammy.

“What’s going on?” Sanha asked in alarm, making Minhyuk feel even worse. He cried out in pain, a howl like scream erupting from him. 

“It’s his first transformation.” Bin said. “He’s not in control of his body. These first three nights are going to be difficult on him and he’s going to be in a lot of pain. The werewolf transformation is extremely painful. And, well, on their first night they’re extremely… horny. Since he doesn’t have an Other Half, it’s even worse for him.”

“Hyukkie.” Himchan said, stepping up again and placing his hands on the boy’s thrashing body. “Hey, calm down. This will all be over soon. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prevent this from happening.”

“This is no one’s fault, Himchan.” Their guide said with a sad smile, looking over at Youngjae who hasn’t left Minhyuk’s side. “Youngjae, help me and Himchan escort Minhyuk carefully to his room. Dongminnie, please show Sanha to his room.”

Minhyuk wanted to hug his younger friend as he watched him being led out by the elf spirit, yet he was powerless to do anything. His limbs were then held down by Bin and Himchan as Youngjae untied him. The group of three helped him off of the table, Minhyuk doing everything in his power to keep control of himself. Luckily his body listened, but all he could feel was the pain that shot through his body as they walked. He let himself cry out in pain, sharp howls coming with each yelp he let out. 

When they made it to his room, the three led him inside, sitting him down on his bed. Himchan gave him a quick hug before they left, locking him into his room. Minhyuk whimpered to himself, rolling into a ball on his bed to see if he could somehow limit the pain. but nothing was working and it was driving him more insane. He jumped up, picking up a pillow and throwing it across the room in frustration. He then saw a bookcase full of books on the other side of the room. He stumbled over to it and picked up a book, instantly starting to shred it apart with his hands as he started to cry once again. Page after page of the book littered the floor, torn to bits.

Minhyuk knew that he was going to be locked in here until the first three full moons passed. He didn’t want to know the damage that he was going to do to the room. He didn’t want to hear his screams he knew his friends must be hearing. He knew he must seem like a psychopath at the moment, but he couldn’t help it. The immense frustration his whole body was feeling was driving him crazy. So he continued to shred books until he finally let himself fall asleep on the floor next to the bookshelf, crying the whole time.

* * *

 

As the man across from him began to fade away, he brought a hand up to his chest and closed his eyes. His surroundings stayed the same, however, and they made his heart  _ ache _ with a feeling that he had assumed was both pain and heartbreak at the same time.

“Your son, I suppose?” A voice said from behind him, and the blond man narrowed his eyes before turning to the tall man that stood there.

When they were both alive and had something to fight for, there would have been animosity. His sword would have already been drawn, a scream prepped and ready to unleash on the monster in front of him. But now they were both dead, stuck in this graveyard that wasn’t even truly in Epilogue, the bond marks on each of their fingers faded with the disintegration of their respective bonds when their hearts stopped beating.

“Yes.” The blond said, looking at the taller with a slight frown. “What do you want, Yifan?”

“I heard talking and became curious.” Yifan said, his black eyes gleaming with mischievousness and curiosity as he stepped out of the shadows. “He looks just like you.”

“He looks more like him.” The blond said, unable to say his Bonded’s name yet. It had been over two hundred years since he had died, and it still hurt his heart to even think about how he would never get to be with him ever again. “That same smile too.”

“He’s taller than me.” Yifan said, the fog turning black as the taller man walked through it. “How did he get here?”

“He was given the locket.” The blond nodded, hopping up to sit on the stone ledge that a statue was sitting on. He took off his glasses to rub at his eyes roughly, putting them back on and giving Yifan a small smile.

“You’ll see him again, Jonghyun.” Yifan said, patting his knee before slinking back into his shadows.

“I hope so.” Jonghyun said in a whisper, looking down at his faded bond mark with a sad gaze. He could only hope.

* * *

 

Jimin was sitting with Hoseok in his hidden chamber where he was working with his spy network. Taehyung had created this for Jimin years ago when he was named the Spymaster. After Yoongi and him helped get Jungkook out of Serendipity, Jimin officially brought Yoongi and Hoseok into his network (Yoongi had important information about Namjoon that helped Jimin, and ultimately it helped the Guardians and the mission he sent his son and the other  _ dimis _ on). Even though he was never close to the couple, he knew his Bonded was so he knew he had to finally let them in. 

“Sir." A voice said, causing the both of them to turn and find a boy about the same age as Minhyuk running into the room. He ran over to Jimin, handing him a letter. “Bin has sent in his report.”

“Thank you, Jibeom." Jimin said with a soft smile, taking a hold of letter and opened it up. Just the title of the report made his face pale.

**_Something happened to Minhyuk and here are the reasons why it’s not my fault — A Report by Bin_ **

**_First off, we finished our mission in Euphoria with my Bonded and his brother. The corruption was the Siren King, Lu Han, who was a servant of Chaos. He made Youngjae, the son of King Jaehwan and a siren named Zitao, attack King Jaehwan because Jaehwan had all the information about the Siren King, but Youngjae told me that Lu Han took the journal to get rid of it. The only name that we got out of him was Namjoon — go figure._ **

**_Dongmin had one of the crystal shards and gave it to Minhyuk right off the bat. He trusted him because he could tell that he was a magic user and you know the saying about all magic users sticking together or whatever. And Youngjae handed us his crystal shard this morning. The corruption here is officially gone. Hakyeon is now going to work on rebuilding his land after all of the fighting, and Dongmin is now up with his father because he is about to go in labor with our baby._ **

**_Minhyuk was the one that defeated Lu Han with his magic. I’m not going to go into details because of the case of third party interceptions. But I think you can imagine what type of magic he has. And now about what actually happened to Minhyuk, well, please don’t kill me… because I wasn’t there when it happened! I was doing a special mission and leading a fight, Sanha was with Dongmin saving the civilians, Himchan was bait while Wonshik and Taekwoon fought the werewolves, and Minhyuk and Junhong were with Hakyeon and Youngjae. Lu Han just popped up on them. After Minhyuk killed him, his personal guard appeared and Minhyuk was attacked by a werewolf._ **

**_Because of that, Minhyuk is now a werewolf (I know what you’re thinking and no, he’s not dead). He’s gone through his first three nights as a werewolf, and he’s okay. But yeah, he’s a werewolf. Don’t hate me because it’s not my fault!_ **

Jimin sighed deeply and placed the letter down. He wasn’t expecting that to happen. Now he felt bad for bringing Minhyuk to this world. He didn’t want his son to be a werewolf, but apparently that was inevitable. He knew he couldn’t blame Bin, either. Minhyuk was in a battle zone where there was werewolves, so of course there was a high chance he would be bitten. In a way, it was Jimin’s own fault. He was the one that sent his son on this mission anyway, but he just hoped that Minhyuk was okay, because he knew that kind of pain was terrible. 

“What’s going on?” Hoseok asked, causing the blond to look up at him with wide eyes. “Did something happen during the mission? Is Jungkook’s boy okay?”

“Bin is okay." The Spymaster assured him. “It’s… can I trust you with something, Hoseok? You were Taehyung’s best friend, so I should be able to trust you with some information. But please, you  _ can’t  _ tell anyone else.”

“Of course." The strawberry blond said, giving him a small smile. “You haven’t told anyone about me and Yoongi being Bonded, and you haven’t told anyone that Jihoon is my son, so I know I can trust you. And you’re the God of Truth so I can’t lie to you.”

“You’re right." Jimin said with a laugh. “Hoseok… you know how I told you I lost my son?”

“Yeah." The other man said with a frown, straightening up to show that he was listening.

“That… was a lie. I didn’t know who to trust in that time because of everything that happened. But I actually didn’t lose my son. Before coming back here, I brought him down to Earth and left him at an orphanage. And I guess Seokjin found him and he has been fostering him.”

“Seokjin was taking care of your son?” Hoseok cried out in surprise, causing Jimin to nod his head with a small smile. “Wow, what a coincidence. You didn’t tell Seokjin about him, did you?”

“No, I didn’t." The blond said, biting his lip. “So he’s here in Prologue now. Jinki called me up about a week ago so that we can get rid of this world’s corruption once and for all. So I brought four  _ dimis  _ who grew up on Earth that would help us save our world. One of the four is my son, Minhyuk. And they went to Euphoria first… and my son was bitten by a werewolf.”

“So your son is a werewolf now?” Hoseok asked with wide eyes, causing Jimin to sigh and nod his head.

“He is, yes." Jimin said, closing his eyes in regret as Hoseok placed his hand on his back.

“Hey, it will be okay." The older man assured him. “He’s still your son. Just with an extra boost, I guess you could say. The good thing about werewolves is that they’re extremely loyal and over protective. Those are some great traits to have.”

“The thing is." The blond man said, opening his eyes and looking into Hoseok’s eyes. “He grew up knowing nothing about this world. He didn’t even believe in magic. And then suddenly he was brought into this world against his will with his father sending him on a strange mission before vanishing. Then he’s turned into a werewolf, which he probably didn’t think existed either. I’ve put this poor boy through so much and I just feel like the world’s most awful father. He must hate me.”

Hoseok sat quietly, thinking over everything Jimin said. The Spymaster only felt regret for his actions. How could he send his only son into a death trap like this? No matter how much he believed in Minhyuk, this was the worst possible thing a father could do. He wouldn’t blame Minhyuk for hating him. He would hate his own father if he sent him out to do something like this.

“I don’t think you’re an awful father." Hoseok said, causing Jimin to look up at him in shock. “You did everything in your power to save him from Namjoon, and I completely admire that. I wish Yoongi and I did that for Jihoon, but at the same time, I’m glad he’s here with us. But if you believe in Minhyuk, then I do too. And your support is all he needs to be happy. He’s doing this mission because you asked him to.”

“I guess you’re right." The blond man replied, nodding his head. 

“Were you Bonded to his other parent?” The older man asked, causing Jimin to let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Jimin slowly pulled off a ring that was on his ring finger, showing a faded red bond mark. It had faded to a light red when Taehyung died, showing that the bond was broken.

“I was." Jimin whispered. “And he died. A hundred and eighty years ago.”

“Jimin." Hoseok said, placing his hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. “I promise, I’m not going to tell anyone this. Not even Yoongi. But I need you to answer this for me. I’ve always suspected, but I’ve never known. Is Taehyung your Bonded?”

Jimin stayed silent for a long time. It hurt him every time Taehyung was brought up. He couldn’t bear the thought that Taehyung was actually gone, and it destroyed him when he had to tell Minhyuk that he was gone. The sad part was, that fact was never going to change. After a while, Jimin slowly nodded his head, refusing to look at Hoseok. Tears had welled up in his eyes, the pain that came with the fact that Taehyung was gone building up in his chest. He missed Taehyung more than anyone could ever imagine.

“So, Minhyuk’s his son." Hoseok whispered. Jimin almost didn’t hear what Hoseok said next, but he could have sworn he said something along the lines of ‘this changes everything.’ The older boy then bit his lip, looking into Jimin’s eyes. “Hey, I swear I’m not going to tell anyone, Jimin. You can trust me. I’m definitely not going to let Namjoon know that you have a son and I’m not going to let him know that you were Bonded. Everything will be okay, Jimin, you have my word. No one will know about this.”

“Thank you, Hobi." The blond said with a small smile, wiping his tears. “You’re a good friend.”

“Anything for you." Hoseok said, smiling softly at him. “Because Taehyung is my best friend, this is the main reason why I’m not going to say anything. But I also can’t lie to the God of Truth, now can I?”

“I guess not." Jimin said with a soft chuckle. He didn’t notice that there was a hidden motive behind Hoseok’s promise. He couldn’t detect why Hoseok was using present tense instead of past tense while referring to Taehyung. He was unaware of the secret Hoseok was hiding from him. He was unable to detect it because a magical force was blocking it from him. He was also unaware that this secret would soon be coming to light. A secret that could change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always i will happily take requests and prompts in my ask at rozalty.tumblr.com
> 
> cross posted on aff, tumblr, and wattpad
> 
> coauthor and i might wait an extra week to post the second part of this story (called her) so yeah. pls let us know if you like where this story is going so far!!


	9. Her pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and we're back with another part of prologue!! as you can see, it's been changed a bit, so now we're in the second part of prologue :) hope you enjoy!

_ Jimin glanced over at Namjoon who was sitting next to him. Once Jimin finished his letter to Taehyung, he sat up straight to look Namjoon in the eyes, folded up the letter and placing it under a book. He was going to send it out later that night. It had been about a week since Taehyung had left and he missed him dearly. He was hoping he could talk to him soon, since Taehyung hadn’t yet sent him a letter.  _

_ Namjoon cleared his throat and stood up, walking over to the door and shutting it. Jimin stared at him in confusion, not sure of what was going on. He had never trusted Namjoon and he wasn’t too keen on being locked up in the same room as him. For some reason, he just felt some strange evil energy coming from the man. He knew something wasn’t right with him. _

_ “Jimin, let us discuss the kingdom." Namjoon said, leaning against the door. “As Taehyung is away for the time being, what are we to do?” _

_ “What is there to do?” Jimin asked, shrugging his shoulders. “Right now, we just observe the people. If an issue appears, that’s when we step in. Just go along with your daily life unless something arises.” _

_ “Do you believe that something bad will happen?” The white haired man said, pushing his hair back so it wasn’t falling in his face. Jimin just shrugged his shoulders before looking down at the book in front of him. It was a book of magic spells that Jungkook had sent him from Epiphany. Jimin, however, didn’t tell Namjoon who the book was from — he just said he was using it to find a new protection charm for Serendipity, which the other agreed to.  _

_ “Well, no, I don’t think anything is going to happen." The blond said, opening the book to a page talking about the different protection charms. After what Taehyung had told him before he left, Jimin felt the need to put a protection spell on himself. The book had only arrived that morning, though. “But sometimes it’s best to be safe, you know.” _

_ “You have been a little down since Taehyung left." The taller man said. “You were not like this when Jungkook left, and I thought Jungkook was your best friend.” _

_ “I think everyone here knows how close I am to Taehyung." Jimin said. “You weren’t here when I came, but when I first got to Serendipity, Taehyung brought me in. He and Seokjin both helped me learn more about this world, and they shaped me into who I am today. So of course I’ve been down after Taehyung left. Maybe Jungkook is my best friend, but so is Taehyung, and I’ve never been closer to anyone else.” _

_ “Have you been Bonded to anyone?” Namjoon asked with a hint of a smirk. Jimin shook his head in denial. “Then, you do not know what it is like to be extremely close to someone; to share a life with someone. A Bond like that is a very strong thing. Did you know that, Jimin? I was Bonded once before, but he has long since passed. This is why I do not like relationships — it makes me think of him.” _

_ “Well if you weren’t so against relationships, then maybe I would know what a Bond was like." Jimin said, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t want to be Bonded because I know what you will do. You made Taehyung pass that law that Bonded relationships and children born out of love are banned from our land.” _

_ “You are correct." Namjoon said, watching the boy. Jimin rolled his eyes just as a sharp pain shot through his heart. The blond wanted to fall over in pain, but he knew he couldn’t show any weakness in front of Namjoon. “Is everything alright?” _

_ “What do you mean?” Jimin asked, trying to sound like nothing was happening, but the pain he felt in his chest was making that impossible. He turned away from Namjoon, placing his hand to his heart. The black haired man walked over to him, placing his hand on the blond’s shoulder. Jimin closed his eyes, biting down on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from crying out. _

_ “Your eyes, they were filled with pain just now." The taller said, rubbing soft circles on his back. “Let me reiterate; is everything alright?” _

_ “I’m fine." Jimin spat out. He then straightened out and grabbed his book and letter, turning back to Namjoon. “It’s just a stomachache. Look, I just want to go lay down if that’s okay.” _

_ “Yes, of course you may." Namjoon said with a soft smile. “Take care of yourself.” _

_ “Thanks." Jimin said before rushing out of the room, missing what looked like a dark cloud coming from the other man. He made it all the way to his own room before slamming and locking the door behind him. He then dropped to the ground, crying out in pain. In that moment he knew he was never going to see his Bonded again. This pain meant that Kim Taehyung was gone. He didn’t know what had happened, but his love was dead. Jimin curled up into a ball, crying into the book that he was holding close to his chest.  _

_ He couldn’t protect Taehyung and there was nothing he could do to bring him back. Half of himself was gone and Jimin wanted to give up. What was the point of running this land when Taehyung was gone? What was the point of living? He couldn’t answer himself as his whole body shook with his loud sobs. He then felt a sharp pain in his stomach, causing the boy to cry out and place his hand on it. Oddly enough, he could feel a kick against his hand. His eyes widened, not sure about what was going on. _

_ He grabbed a hold onto a crystal the Guardians had given him, closing his eyes and thinking of Jinki’s palace. He needed someone and at the moment the first person he could think of was the person he knew had already been through this, and he needed to figure out what was happening with him. Jinki could help him, because there was no way he could face his Bonded’s family at the moment. Minho was sick, so he couldn’t ask about this. He was going to get things figured out with Jinki before going to mourn with the family. _

* * *

 

Sanha sat in the throne room, polishing his dagger with a cloth that Hakyeon had given him. Even though he didn’t use it much, he liked to polish it every day. He just didn’t want the gift Jinki gave him to get ruined, no, he wanted to show that he could take care of his special weapon. Since he didn’t have a sheath for his sword, Dongmin had gifted him with a small diamond encrusted sheath to keep his dagger in which clipped to his pants easily. As he polished his dagger, someone sat down across from him, causing him to look up and find the red haired King sitting down with him with a bright smile on his face.

“I think you’re going to be a great weapon wielder." Hakyeon said with a soft smile, causing the younger boy to grin at him. “Look, Sanha. I was able to notice just how much you love it here, and I wanted to let you know that we will always welcome you into Euphoria. There will always be a place for you to stay here in the castle. If you ever needed anywhere to go, we will gladly welcome you.”

“Really?” Sanha asked with wide eyes, a bright smile appearing on his face. “Thank you so much! I will definitely keep that in mind!”

“Also." Hakyeon said, passing over a red sheathed sword. “This is the sword we gave you that you dropped before going to the meadow. I wanted you to have it.”

“But I don’t know how to fight with a sword." Sanha said, taking ahold of it with wide eyes.

“I think you will fight beautifully with a sword, Sanha." the King told him. “When you come back here, if you do, then we will train you to be a better fighter.”

“Thank you." Sanha said, bowing deeply. “I’ll gratefully accept this gift. And when I get the chance, I will come train with you.”

Hakyeon gave him a soft smile just as Bin and Dongmin walked in, a bag stationed on Dongmin’s back. The two turned to them as they both walked over to them, Dongmin with a hand splayed out on his stomach. Sanha jumped up, offering his chair which the other boy gladly accepted. The guide took his Bonded’s bag, placing his hands on his shoulders. The young elf spirit looked around at the three in the room, giving each of them a smile.

“So, now that I know everything here is going to be okay, I’m ready to go up to be with our parents." Dongmin said, looking at his brother. “I wanted to travel with Bin and the others, but I can’t really do that when I’m less than a month away from having my baby. I sent word up to both our parents that I’ll be coming to stay with them. Appa is ecstatic and I think eomma is probably going to have all the servants of his treehouse throw a huge party or something, knowing him.”

“Sounds about right." The red haired man said with a laugh. “Well, I want you to send word when you’re about to have the baby so that I can go up there as well and be with you through the birth. Wonshik and I both want to be there for it.”

“I’ll send you word when I call for Bin." The younger boy said with a laugh. Hakyeon laughed and looked over at Bin.

“I remember when eomma had his baby shower for Dongminnie I guess we ended up having a birthday party for Jihoon as well, your father brought Sehun." Hakyeon said with a grin on his face, “Sehun dragged me around saying I was his best friend. He had to be three years old or something.”

“Who’s Sehun?” Sanha asked in curiosity. “And Jihoon?”

“Sehun is my brother." Bin said with a soft smile. “I barely know him, though. He lives in Epiphany with my other father, Yugyeom. I probably only spent the first ten years of my life with him. After Taehyung died and Minhyuk was born, Jungkook — my father — brought me with him back to Serendipity to be with Jimin as he mourned. Jihoon is the son of Yoongi and Hoseok, the other gods of Serendipity. Hoseok was very close friends with Taehyung, but he’s also really close to my father. I guess since Hoseok, Yoongi, Taehyung, and Jungkook all grew up together, it makes sense that they were close. Seokjin also grew up with them, but that was after he and his brother came to Prologue.”

“I keep forgetting Seokjin grew up in Serendipity." The orange haired boy said. “It’s just…  _ weird _ to think about. I’ve known Seokjin my whole life and he’s been my foster parent this whole time, and he was about to  _ adopt _ me. He’s a really great guy.”

“He is." Everyone said in agreement, causing Sanha to smile. Dongmin sighed and stood up, turning to the youngest boy in the room.

“Look Sanha, you are a really great person and I’m so glad I got to meet you." Dongmin said, reaching out and hugging the boy. “Please take care of yourself and stay healthy. After I have the baby, I definitely want you to meet him.”

“So, you’re going to have a boy?” Sanha asked, hugging him back. “What are you going to name him?”

“Seungmin." The couple said in unison, causing Sanha to smile and pull out of the hug.

“That’s a really cute name." The young boy said with a smile. “Congrats with the baby. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Thank you." The young elf spirit said before hugging his older brother. He then picked up his bag again and bowed softly to the young  _ dimi _ . “I’ll see you later, Sanha.”

“And I’ll be back after breakfast." Bin added, placing his arm around Dongmin’s waist. “I’m going to escort my Bonded to his parents’ and make sure he gets settled in.”

“Tell Minhyuk ‘hi’ for me." Dongmin said before both of them disappeared. Sanha waved at the spot they were just standing in before glancing at Hakyeon.

“I guess we better get to the dining hall for breakfast." Hakyeon said, walking over to Sanha and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

While Sanha was speaking with Hakyeon, Himchan had made his way to the dining hall for breakfast, easily sliding into the chair that was at the head of the table. He didn’t even have to wait for a servant to bring him his food, because Jongdae and Chanyeol were already sitting on either side of him (Jongdae was nice enough to ask a servant for the plate of food for Himchan, and Chanyeol whined about how his Bonded was so nice to others but not him. Himchan just thought that the werewolf was more of a puppy than anything, and he hoped that his Other Half — if he found his, at least — was a werewolf too).

“You’re leaving today.” Jongdae said, and Himchan nodded as he sipped at his juice. He had stopped hoping that the food in Prologue tasted anything like home, because of  _ course _ it didn’t (surprisingly, he was okay with that, knowing that he was going to be fed good food and it wasn’t going to affect his stomach later in a bad way), and he was happy with the result. While Prologue was different, it felt like home.

Like he belonged.

“We have to wait for Bin to get back from Taemin’s place, but yes.” The red haired man said, nodding once more before starting to cut into his meat. Chanyeol leaned forward slightly and ruffled Himchan’s hair, grinning his too-wide grin (it made him look both attractive and unattractive, and Himchan thought once more to himself that he hoped his Other Half was anything like Chanyeol. Not that he had any romantic feelings for Chanyeol, of course, but he seemed like a good man to have at your side, and Himchan wanted someone like that).

“Do you know where you’re going to next?” Jongdae asked, bringing Himchan back to the present easily with his melodic voice quiet and soothing.

“I think Bin said something about Singularity?” Himchan said, his voice raising up in pitch at the end to form a question. He didn’t miss the way Jongdae paled at his words, or the restless way Chanyeol shifted in his chair, so he waited for something to be said about it. When the two stayed quiet, Himchan raised an eyebrow. “What’s so bad about Singularity?”

“Nothing.” Chanyeol said firmly, scooting his chair back and making a poor excuse for his early departure before almost flying out of the room.

“He’s from Singularity.” Jongdae said, his blue eyes sad and thoughtful as he watched his Other Half run from the dining hall. “It’s a place of ruin, now. It used to be beautiful, I’m sure, but ever since the acting Priestesses have taken over, it’s become dangerous.”

“How so?” Himchan said, cautious in asking as he purposely made his question broad.

“Sixty years ago, one of the High Priestesses of Singularity died.” Jongdae said, sipping his own juice as he looked at the other. “She died in birth, but the baby was saved and given to her second in command, Hyojin. Once Solji died, the four others named their replacements and left. Well, the three others did. One of the Priestesses was under magical maturity age, so she never showed her face. Anyway, for five years everything was okay. But then the gang Block B joined with them, and the world fell apart. There were trafficking rings for any creature who wasn’t human, and that’s where Chanyeol came from.”

“That’s horrible.” Himchan said, and Jongdae smiled sadly as he continued.

“That’s not even the worst of it.” Jongdae said, running a hand through his blond hair. “Block B is a gang of seven. Or,  _ was _ , in any case. The youngest of them, named Jihoon, left when the gang joined the Priestesses. He works as Jinki’s right hand man now, actually. But anyway, he says that three of the gang members are enslaved by the Priestesses.”

“Because they’re not human?” Himchan asked innocently.

“One of them is, I guess, I’m assuming it’s to ensure the complete cooperation of the gang members.” Jongdae answered easily. “The leader, Jiho, is still around. He’s human, but an extremely strong magic user. A lot of people think he’s some sort of trickster. Taeil is a fairy who comes from here, surprisingly enough, and Jihoon said that he went to Singularity after bonding with his Other Half and giving up his crown. The last one, Yukwon, he’s a werewolf from here as well. Childhood friend of Chanyeol’s, but his Bonded and son are both dead. Killed by one of the Priestesses, we think.”

“That’s horrible.” Himchan said, shaking his head and leaning back in his chair as he sighed heavily. “I hope we can fix this. I mean, Yukwon deserves some closure. His son  _ and _ his Other Half, gone just like that. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

“I hope you never have to go through that.” Jongdae said, placing a gentle hand on Himchan’s shoulder. He sighed heavily and stood up, giving the elder a small smile. “I’m going to go get my Other Half now. Please, enjoy your breakfast. We’ll be back soon.”

Himchan watched Jongdae leave with a slight frown, shaking his head as he looked down at his plate. It was horrible what was happening to Singularity, but if he could help get those people back home to their loved ones, and offer closure to those who had loved ones died, then all of this mess would have been worth it.

* * *

 

A soft knock woke Minhyuk, causing the boy’s eyes to shoot open in alarm. A knock had never sounded as loud as that one did. The boy cautiously looked around the room he was in, noticing the torn up books and furniture all around him. He frowned in confusion, looking at the door as it opened and someone walked in. Minhyuk sat up straight, watching the boy who made his way into the room. The newcomer gave him a sharp bow, a soft smile on his face.

“Hello, my name is Joochan. I’m one of Hakyeon’s servants." The boy said, grinning at Minhyuk. “Hakyeon asked me to come get you. Everyone is having breakfast right now.”

“Where am I?” Minhyuk asked, glancing around the room again. “Did I… did I do all that?”

“I’m guessing so, yes." Joochan replied, nodding his head. “Do you remember anything?”

“I was attacked by a werewolf." Minhyuk said, looking down at his hands. “And I was turned into a werewolf. But that’s all I remember. After Hakyeon put me on the table, everything just went blank.”

“You were locked up in this room the last three nights because you weren’t able to control yourself." Joochan said, pushing his brown hair out of his eyes. “During the day, I brought in food for you, but you were very out of it. It was almost like you weren’t even there.”

Minhyuk slowly nodded his head as he grabbed the clothes the other brunet was handing him. He dressed himself, placing his hand in his pocket to find that the mirror and crystal had magically appeared in it. He smiled to himself before looking at the servant, telling him that he was ready. The boy nodded then left the room with Minhyuk following behind.

As they made their way over to the dining hall, he noticed that everything he looked at seemed clearer than it normally did. He could smell the scents coming from the kitchen, even though it was probably a few tree branches below them. He could pick up other scents, like other people, in the castle. He was also able to pick up chatter coming from behind closed doors and small noises that he otherwise wouldn’t have been able to pick up clearly.

The brunet glanced around the halls in wonder, somewhat enjoying his new discoveries. He wasn’t even paying attention to where he was going, until he was suddenly stopped by the servant. Minhyuk looked up in surprise, realizing that he was already in the dining hall. He looked over to see that Sanha, Junhong, and Himchan were speaking with the Royals of Euphoria. Everyone stopped talking when they noticed that he was in the room, and Sanha instantly jumped up and pulled his friend into a tight hug.

“Hyung! I was so worried!” Sanha said. “Are you okay?”

“I feel okay." Minhyuk said in reassurance, hugging the younger boy back before Sanha dragged him over to sit between himself and Junhong. Both of the older boys were staring at him with curious eyes. 

“They wouldn’t let us see you for the last three nights." Himchan said with a small smile. “But I can understand why. I hear you weren’t yourself.”

“No not really." Minhyuk said, shaking his head. “I honestly don’t remember anything that happened.”

“That will happen." Wonshik said, causing Minhyuk to turn and look at him. Wonshik was sitting next to Hakyeon, with Yixing and Taekwoon on his other side. Other royals were also sitting at the table, but Minhyuk couldn’t remember their names. Youngjae was sitting on the other side of Himchan. “Do you feel any different today?”

“I feel like my senses have improved." Minhyuk said, picking up his fork and taking a bite from the dish that was placed in front of him. “And I feel extremely hungry.”

“As a werewolf, your senses are definitely heightened." Wonshik said in explanation. “It helps a lot when you’re trying to listen for an enemy, as well as if you need something to eat. If you ever needed lenses, now you don’t. So there’s that.”

“Well I never liked glasses anyway." The younger grumbled, causing Wonshik to snort.

“You will naturally be ten times more hungry than you used to be." Yixing added, catching the younger’s attention. “Especially on full moon nights. Your appetite will intensify. And you’ll become more aggressive, but you always have the sense to protect your closest friends, so none of you need to be afraid. Since you have gone through your first three full moons, you will now have more control of yourself when you transform.”

“During transformations, you don’t actually take the shape of a wolf like in the stories you probably read on Earth." Wonshik said. “You will grow fangs, your fingernails grow into claws, and your eyes turn yellow.  

You get ten times more stronger. Full moon nights are the best nights to have sex with your Bonded, because you also grow horny as  _ fuck _ . Once you’re Bonded, you will enjoy it, I promise you that!”

“Wonshik!” Hakyeon hissed, slapping his Bonded with a bright red blush on his cheeks and causing the other man to chuckle softly. Minhyuk glanced over at Sanha, who was blushing as well. Minhyuk and Junhong both smirked, ruffling the youngest boy’s hair. Minhyuk then looked over at the King, who gave him a soft smile. “You become ten times more loyal as a werewolf, as well. Minhyuk, don’t ever think this is a bad thing. Yes, it sucks that you were attacked, and I do wish we could have prevented that, but the good thing is that you’re alive.  _ And  _ you defeated Lu Han. That’s what matters the most!”

“Dude, you should have seen me kill that werewolf that attacked you." Junhong said, stuffing food into his mouth. “It was awesome!”

“I think me blowing Lu Han up with fire was cooler." Minhyuk said with a laugh just as Bin made his way back into the dining hall. He smiled at Minhyuk before glancing at the group.

“Youngjae, you told me you had a crystal shard?” Bin asked, causing the half-siren to nod his head. “Are you still wanting to come with us?”

“Yes, I do." Youngjae said, pulling the crystal off from around his neck and handing it to Himchan quickly. 

“Good." Bin said. “Finish eating and then we’ll be off.”

* * *

 

Junhong frowned when a werewolf named Gunhee handed him a big, black scarf, raising an eyebrow at the shorter. Gunhee rolled his eyes and took the scarf from his hands, wrapping around his head and mouth until it blended in with the rest of his outfit (which was now black — Junhong would never understand how things worked here).

“What’s this for?” Junhong asked, bringing his hands up to touch the scarf, and Gunhee slapped them away as he patted the boy’s shoulders.

“In a place like Singularity, you would immediately be snatched up for being as pretty as you are, banshee.” Gunhee said, grinning wolfishly (he needed to stop with the wolf puns) up at the blond. “Especially with those curly locks of blond you’ve got on top of your head.”

“Don’t scare him.” Jooheon said, slapping Gunhee upside the head, and the brunet growled in retaliation but backed down as the general looked up at Junhong. “He’s right, however. You’re an extremely rare creature, Junhong. As far as I know, you’re the only banshee existing right now. If anybody finds out what you are, or who your parents are, they’re immediately coming for you.”

“I don’t even know who my parents are.” Junhong said, pushing his sleeve down over the large blood mark on his arm. Jooheon gave him a knowing look but didn’t say anything, patting his shoulder before walking away with his Other Half.

Over the course of the few days that they were there, Junhong had met Jooheon, who was the highest ranking general and leader of the military in Euphoria. His Other Half, Gunhee, was a werewolf who was pretty tame for his nature. He hadn’t been pulled under the Full Moon until about halfway through, and Jooheon explained it was because their son was beginning his transformations.

“Junnie!” A tiny voice said, and Junhong turned around to see that Minhyuk — Jooheon and Gunhee’s son — was running towards him. The man in question crouched down to scoop the little boy up, grinning widely as he held Minhyuk close to his chest.

“Hey Minhyukkie. I’m gonna miss you when I go.” Junhong said, kissing his silver hair.

“I’m gonna miss you too.” Minhyuk said, grinning widely and showing off a missing tooth that hadn’t been there before. Junhong didn’t say anything as he let the boy down, watching him fondly.

“Alright, let’s go.” Youngjae said, patting Junhong’s butt to get his attention. The blond man raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he joined the others in a circle around Bin. The guide waved a final goodbye to the people surrounding them in the dining hall before they all vanished, and Junhong felt himself floating aimlessly in a black hole for just a moment before appearing in where he assumed was Singularity.

His chest felt tight as soon as they made it to the city, his now blue eyes barely able to take anything in since the feeling was so tight. It was as if there was a rope wrapped around his waist, tugging him forward in a direction he didn’t know.

“What is this?” Junhong asked, clutching at his chest and letting out a hoarse cough as he hunched over.

“What do you mean?” Youngjae said, placing a hand on Junhong’s back.

“I’m being pulled somewhere.” Junhong managed to get out, his feet slowly moving forward. Himchan made to grab onto Junhong so he wouldn’t go, but Bin held up a hand to stop him.

“It’s normal.” Bin said, lowering his hand back to his side and smiling lightly. “It’s the Calling. You’re in the same land as your Other Half, Junhong. Allow yourself to follow where it’s taking you.”

Junhong couldn’t say anything else, his feet moving one after the other until he was running through the streets. He could see the ruin that the city was in, the homeless people on the streets and the clear distress that women, children, and other creatures were in as men of all types of creatures misused them in a way that was indecent in public. The banshee couldn’t bring himself to care, however, the feeling in his gut intensifying with every step until it was the only thing he was aware of.

It seemed like hours before he was finally colliding into a smaller but stronger body, two hands placed on his waist to steady him. When Junhong finally came to his senses, he looked down to see a smirking face looking back up at him, eyes blacker than night with blue hair hanging in his face. In a closer look, he could see tattoos on the man’s neck and hands, a black jacket hiding if there were any others.

“Hey there, beautiful.” The man said, grinning up at Junhong as he brought a hand up to lower the scarf around his mouth. “My name is Jongup.”

“Junhong.” He said in reply, his voice breathless as he looked at the other. Junhong could hear the rest of his friends joining them, but he was too enamoured by the man in front of him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Lovely to meet you as well.” Jongup said, his eyes and tattooed glowing a deep red as a door opened behind him. “I can sense that you and your friends aren’t just here for pleasure, so we should continue this inside. Please, come in.”

Junhong allowed the smaller man to pull away, a hand grabbing onto his to pull him along. The blond glanced to the side to see Himchan giving him a raised eyebrow (his cue for ‘we need to talk later’), but he ignored it as they all walked into the building.

“Pardon the darkness. Chaos magic built this place.” Jongup said, and Bin frowned as they all took a seat around a large, circular table.

“Chaos magic?” Bin asked, his hand going to the hilt of his sword in suspicion.

“From me.” Jongup said, leaning back in his chair as he looked at the others with a mischievous glint in his black eyes. “I’m the son of Chaos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always i will happily take requests on [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/ask) :)
> 
> cross posted on [aff](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1316850/n-a-blockb-fantasy-infinite-shinee-mythology-alternateuniverse-zelo-fairies-exo-himchan-bap-banghim-magicalrealism-jonglo-vixx-bts-rockjin-warewolves-vmin-sanha-rocky-astro-binwoo-minorcharacterdeath), [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/tagged/prologue), and [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/533000372-prologue-wonder-pt-1)


	10. Her pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys like this one!

_ Sungjong stared at Sunggyu as the elder man talked about the research he was conducting. This meeting was one Sungjong didn’t find really important. Sunggyu was talking about birdwatching or something, so Sungjong just started to tune him out, turning to Sungyeol, who was making owl faces at the child sitting next to him. The boy, even though he was seventy years old already and was able understand plenty of things that the group was saying, still sat in the meetings with the group. Sungyeol, his overprotective father, never wanted to have him leave his side (though Sunggyu would force the boy to stay with his own kids if the meeting was important enough where they didn’t want kids around). _

_ “This is bullshit." A man sitting next to Sungjong said, causing Sungjong’s eyes to widen and turn on the man. No one ever talks to Sunggyu that way or even  _ interrupts _ him. Even though Sunggyu really couldn’t do anything, his Bonded, Woohyun, would punish anyone who was rude towards the other. Woohyun was a strong magic user who mainly used his magic to help him with healing people (he was a doctor). _

_ “What’s bullshit, Hoya?” Sunggyu asked, crossing his arms and frowning at the man.  _

_ “These meetings are not productive." Hoya said, rolling his eyes. “How are we supposed to lead this land when we’re talking nonsense?” _

_ “Well, I’m sorry you don’t like my meetings." The caramel haired man said with a deep frown. “We haven’t been given any information from Kibum to bring up in a meeting, and none of us have found any information that will be reliable for the meeting. We’re still going to hold the weekly meetings regardless.” _

_ “We don’t need information to hold a stupid meeting!” Hoya said loudly. “My goodness, you’re the worst leader for Epiphany! I don’t know why I even bother.” _

_ “What —” _

_ “I’m out." Hoya said, standing up and storming out of the room. Sungjong glanced around at everyone before standing up as well, following after him as quickly as he could in his current state. Despite being close to having his baby, already being eight months into pregnancy, he continued to speed walk until he grabbed a hold of the other man’s wrist. _

_ “Hoya, stop." Sungjong said, pleading with him. “Where are you going?” _

_ “I’m leaving." The black haired man said, tugging himself out of the blond’s hold. “I’m leaving Epiphany.” _

_ “Why?” Sungjong asked with tears in his eyes. “Hoya, I  _ need _ you to stay.” _

_ “This whole system is stupid! Sunggyu doesn’t know how to lead this land." Hoya said in a hiss. “I don’t want to be part of a place that’s being run by a born mortal. He knows nothing of Epiphany. Kibum brought him in as Woohyun’s plaything.” _

_ “Kibum brought him in because Sunggyu is Woohyun’s Other Half." Sungjong said firmly. “Woohyun trusts him and so does Kibum, so I trust him too.” _

_ “I don’t give two fucks about whether you trust him or not." The older man spat out, causing Sungjong to go silent and stare at him in shock. “You do realize I don’t love you, right? You had a fight with your Bonded, and you came to me. I’m not here to console you. Go back to Dongwoo.” _

_ “I’m staying with you because of our baby." Sungjong tried to say, but Hoya shook his head. _

_ “You have two kids with Dongwoo already." The older man said just as Dongwoo came out. “Just leave me alone.” _

_ “But I need you." Sungjong said, desperately. “For our child! Our child needs you!” _

_ “He’s  _ my _ child, yes." Hoya said, his tone dark. “And I will come back for him when he’s older. He will never really be your kid.” _

_ Before Sungjong could do anything else, he was pushed to the ground by a swish of Hoya’s hand, and then the other man was gone. Sungjong was caught by Dongwoo’s arms around his waist as he stared at the spot Hoya was just standing in in shock. Fear flowed through his body as he clung to his own Bonded, who helped him back onto his feet and didn’t let him go until he knew Sungjong could stand on his own. Once he was standing, he felt a contraction, causing him to grab his stomach in pain. He glanced at Dongwoo, who nodded his head. They both knew that he was about to have the baby — he knew this pain from his previous two pregnancies. Dongwoo rushed him into an empty room, calling Woohyun in as well. _

_ It was time to have the baby. _

* * *

 

Minhyuk stared at Jongup in front of him, fear written all over his face. He’d heard enough about Chaos to know that he couldn’t trust the boy sitting in front of them. He also had no idea how Other Halves worked, but he was angry that this man was apparently his best friend’s Other Half, and he didn’t approve. He glanced over at Himchan, who also seemed disappointed. Minhyuk picked up the bow and arrow that Hakyeon had gifted him, ready to place the arrow on the string.

“Hey." Jongup said, lifting his hands up in defense. “What are you doing?”

“You’re the son of Chaos." Minhyuk said, spitting his words out. “How am I supposed to trust you?”

“He has a point." Bin said, his eyes narrowed. “This goes against what we’re actually supposed to be doing.”

“Calm down." Jongup said with a deep sigh, glancing at Junhong who was staring at him. “Look, can I talk to you guys before you decide that you want to kill me?”

“How can I trust you?” Minhyuk asked, slowly lowering his bow.

“Well, one of my friends here works under the Spymaster." Jongup said, glancing at a man who was walking into the room with a smile. “He brings information to the Spymaster from me to keep him in the loop about Singularity. I myself am part of the Spy Network.”

“Who the hell is this Spymaster everyone keeps talking about?” Minhyuk exclaimed, looking at his friends. “This is the second time I’ve heard of him. What is you sending information to the Spymaster supposed to mean to me?”

“Obviously you don’t know him." Jongup said with a sigh. 

“Minhyuk, stand down." Bin said, looking into Jongup’s eyes. “What’s the password for our Spy Network. Only our close connections have this password.”

Minhyuk watched in confusion as Jongup held out his hand without saying a word. He frowned and looked over Bin, who nodded his head and placed his hand on Minhyuk’s arms to push them down. The boy frowned but placed his his bow on the table as the man who walked in joined them. Jongup gave Bin a smile of gratitude, staring at Minhyuk in curiosity. Minhyuk didn’t want to trust the man, but apparently Bin was choosing to do so, so he had to listen. 

“It’s okay. He’s on our side." Bin assured him. “You can lighten up.”

“But he said he’s the son of  _ Chaos _ ." Minhyuk said, biting his lip nervously. “How can we trust him.”

“I’m against everything that my parents believe in." Jongup said, his tattoos flashing a red for a moment before returning to black. “I’ve been helping smuggling people out of trafficking rings all around Singularity and helping them survive. I’ve been able to put up magical barriers around the people I save to keep them safe. I’ve been working alongside some of the Block B gang members that are left to keep them updated on the outside world. You’ve heard of Block B?”

“I have." Himchan said, raising his hand. Minhyuk still sat there with a confused expression. He didn’t really understand what was going on. He had noticed as they were following after Junhong that Singularity looked rundown and almost lifeless, but he didn’t understand why. “I met someone from Singularity in Euphoria a few days ago. His Bonded was a werewolf from a trafficking ring.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about." Jongup said, nodding his head once. “I’ll give the rest of you a quick summary of what’s happening in Singularity. After the acting Priestesses took over sixty years ago, this place started falling apart. It became a place of ruin. Creatures of all species have been enslaved by the Priestesses, such as werewolves, fairies, and other creatures. People have been losing their homes and jobs, having no money for food or shelter to keep themselves alive. Most of the citizens leftover have sworn their loyalty to the Priestesses just so they can stay alive. It’s a whole mess and no one is safe here. Listen to me when I tell you this — never walk those streets alone. Everyone knows not to touch me because they believe I run a trafficking ring bigger than the rest of them around here, so it’s easier for me to save these people, but what I’m doing is not enough.”

“And our job is to help stop the corruption." Himchan said with crossed arms. “I guess we’re supposed to help you then, especially if Bin is part of whatever the hell your Spy Network is.”

“Yes, we have to work with him." Bin said, shooting down any arguments the group would have. Minhyuk shifted awkwardly in his seat, not sure of what to say at this point. “If the Spy Network is involved, then it’s automatically our business. The Spymaster needs our help and this whole mission has to do with the Spy Network as it is.”

“I never thought I would actually work alongside you, Bin." The strange man who was sitting at the table with them said. Minhyuk looked over at him, noticing that he was wearing all black. He had fox-like eyes, his hair a light brown. “I’ve always wanted to work at Headquarters with the Spymaster himself.”

“You’re Sungjae, right? The Kumiho?” Bin asked, causing the man named Sungjae to nod his head. Bin looked at everyone in the room with a small smile. “Sungjae is a spirit. If we were talking about mythology, he would be the equivalent to the nine-tailed fox. He travels through the Spy Network to talk directly to Headquarters about what exactly is going on in Singularity. I thought Sungjae was our only connection in Singularity, though — the Spymaster never told me about Jongup.”

“He’s our secret weapon here." Sungjae said, nodding at the man in question. “Only the Spymaster and I know about him running the whole network on this side of the border.”

“Singularity is so corrupt that we don’t really want any other agents over here." Jongup said easily, his hand disappearing under the table to presumably hold onto Junhong’s (by the pleased smile on his face, that’s exactly what Jongup was doing). “Sungjae works with me to help the people here. He is a shapeshifter, so when he shifts into his fox form, it allows him to travel underground between lands. Because we have so many foxes around Singularity, Sungjae can easily get around without being caught. He’s also extremely sneaky so he’s rarely been seen by the people of Singularity. The Kumiho people are originally from this land, but they took off to hide in the forests around the outskirts. Sungjae is the only one left in the city area.”

Minhyuk sighed and glanced at Sanha who was taking in everything very intently. He didn’t understand why Sanha even cared to know about this. To him, the whole Spy Network seemed like a joke. How could they trust so many people to be part of an immense organisation like that? He knew that he should probably trust it because Bin seemed to be a huge part of it, but he didn’t really know how to do so.

“I don’t know." Minhyuk said, causing everyone to turn on him. “This all sounds a little weird to me. How can you trust a Spy Network? Anything could happen. I mean, I realize that the Spy Network is on our side and everything, but I myself don’t trust it. I don’t know if I can trust whoever this Spymaster is.”

Minhyuk could have sworn he saw a small glint in Bin’s eyes as the other man shook his head. The guide then leaned back in his chair, staring Jongup at the other end of the table. Minhyuk closed his eyes, not really into the whole ordeal. His friends weren’t saying anything against what he said, so he didn’t know if they thought the same as them or not. He just knew Sanha was too believing. He hoped that if his younger friend did trust this whole system, he wouldn’t end up getting hurt after all of this.

“Look." Bin said, causing Minhyuk to open his eyes again and turn on him. “Minhyuk, Junhong, Youngjae, I need all three of you to be extremely careful in this land. Minhyuk, since you’re a werewolf, you will be on the Priestesses’ radar. Werewolves are the main creatures they enslave. Youngjae, a Siren is also a creature they can use for their bidding. And Junhong… you would be extremely valuable as a pet to them. So all of you just be careful. Sanha, since you’re so young, I don’t need you getting hurt. Himchan, well, I think you know how to stay hidden. But right now our main focus is finding MJ.”

“Wait." Himchan cut in as we all stared at Bin in confusion. “What do you mean by MJ? I thought our goal was to fix the corruption.”

“MJ is our key to fixing Serendipity." Bin stated. “We need to fix Serendipity before we can even get started with Singularity. Singularity is so complex that it’s going to be so much harder and take  _ much _ longer. Right now, we need to focus on finding him, and then we can get everything fully figured out.”

* * *

 

Junhong wasn’t sure how he managed to stay quiet until they reached Jongup’s private quarters in the large building, but words were flowing quickly out of his mouth as soon as the door shut behind the smaller man.

“I don’t know what any of this means.” Junhong said, running both of his hands through his curly blond hair. He tugged on it slightly, sighing heavily as he looked at Jongup with wide blue eyes. “I wasn’t raised on Prologue like you were, Jongup. I don’t know what it means to be Bonded.”

“Calm down, pretty.” Jongup said, moving forward and taking both of Junhong’s hands in his. He smiled up at the younger man and tangled their fingers together, tanned and tattooed contrasting greatly with the paleness of Junhong’s skin. “You don’t have to know what it means to be a good Other Half, you know.”

“It scares me.” Junhong said, squeezing Jongup’s hands and stepping forward as well. “It’s barely been any time at all and I already have feelings for you. I don’t understand this.”

“I don’t either, Junhong.” Jongup said, saying his name for the first time. Tugging the blond closer, Jongup leaned up onto his toes to press their foreheads together, and Junhong bend down to meet him halfway so he didn’t have to strain upwards. “I’ve never been Bonded before. But I do know that we’ll work through this together, okay? We’ll do it together, because that’s what this means now.”

Jongup then lifted their hands up to show off his left hand, showing the bond mark starting to form on his ring finger already. Junhong’s lips parted as a gasp of awe sounded, and he looked at it with a growing smile. He let go of Jongup’s other hand to slide an arm around the smaller man’s waist, pulling their bodies together like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

“Together sounds pretty good to me.” The blond said, and Jongup smiled up at him widely.

“Since our bond is still forming, we’ll have to keep physical contact. I’m assuming that since we’re pressed up to each other and it hasn’t been created yet, we’ll have to do much more than this to form it.” Jongup said, tugging Junhong back until they were both stretched out on the large bed that the smaller had in the room.

“Son of Chaos then, huh?” Junhong said, and Jongup nodded as he pulled away just for a moment just to take off his jacket. As his arms were revealed, Junhong could see the stark red blood mark against his skin, the triangular design of it standing out clearly beside the black ink swirling up and down his arms. Slowly, Junhong brought up his hand to outline the blood mark, biting his lip as his fingertips finished the swirl in the centre of the triangle.

“I got that from my father.” Jongup said, nodding as he watched Junhong’s movements. “He’s dead now, of course. Jonghyun killed him in battle.”

“I know.” Junhong said, stopping his movements as he allowed his hand to simply rest on Jongup’s tattooed skin. “I think that Jonghyun and Jinki are my parents, but I don’t want to assume and learn that I’m wrong. All I know is that I’m a banshee, and my eomma must have been one as well for me to get it. Oh, and my blood mark is ridiculously big.”

“Show me.” Jongup said, already bringing his hand up to slide Junhong’s black sleeve up his arm. The blond allowed him to slide it up, turning his forearm slightly to show off the design. Jongup was silent for a long moment before bringing his hand back up to slide the sleeve back down, raising an eyebrow at Junhong.

“All I know is that I’m naturally blond and that I’m a banshee.” Junhong said, shrugging his shoulders as best as he could while laying down. “And that Jinki wanted to name his son Junhong, like I’m named. It’s so many coincidences… but I can’t allow myself to hope.”

“You look just like him.” Jongup said, bringing a hand up to brush Junhong’s curly locks back away from his forehead. “Jonghyun, I mean. My father was in love with him, I think. He carried Jonghyun’s picture  _ everywhere _ . Eomma hated it.”

“You were only ten years old when he died, weren’t you?” Junhong asked, and Jongup smiled lightly when he realised that the other was actually paying attention to what he was saying.

“I was sixteen, actually.” The smaller said, leaning forward to press their foreheads together once again. At the skin contact, Junhong felt a wave of calm sweep through him, and he scooted forward  easily so they were completely pressed up together and tangled in each other.

“Do I really look like him?” Junhong asked, his voice small as he inadvertently let out all of his emotions about finding his parents in that simple question. Jongup nodded slightly, smiling reassuringly up at the younger man.

“You smile just like him.” Jongup whispered quietly in return, tilting his head just slightly so their noses were pressed together. “You have the same nose too. Weird, I know. But it’s adorable.”

“I hope I see Jinki again, after all this.” Junhong said, and he didn’t need to explain any further for Jongup to understand what he meant by that. He simply leaned forward to wrap his arms around Jongup, the calm in his body spreading even further.

Far enough to push down the feeling of uneasiness so he didn’t register it anymore.

* * *

 

Dongwoo’s eyes shot open after the dream he had, sitting up in bed. He kept the image of the orange haired boy with glasses in his head. He could still remember that orange hair that was on his son a hundred and seventy years ago. Tears appeared in his eyes when he realized what it meant. His little boy who he sent down to Earth so he was safe was back. He was in Prologue.

Dongwoo was shaking badly as he got out of bed. He never knew he was going to meet his youngest son, because  _ Sungjong  _ made him swear that he couldn’t tell anyone that  _ that  _ little boy was his. He made him and Woohyun  _ promise  _ that they wouldn’t say a word about the boy being alive, sharing that he was stillborn to keep him away from Hoya. Hoya, who made everyone believe that the child was  _ his _ , but in reality the child was never Hoya’s. He was born with Dongwoo’s blood mark, which makes him his son. Because of that, Sungjong had to send him down to Earth so Hoya couldn’t find him. Hoya, who had magically claimed the baby.

“My baby Sanha." Dongwoo whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Why are you here? You’re not safe.” 

Dongwoo closed his eyes to collect himself. It hurt more than anything when he had to give up his child. His heart had shattered when he left his baby at the orphanage years ago, and he swore that he would never forgive himself for giving up his child. A child he didn’t know was his until the moment he was born, which hurt him even more. It had shattered his relationship with his Bonded, even though the Bond was still there.

Dongwoo sighed deeply, wiping his eyes so he could collect himself. As much as he didn’t want to go see Sungjong, he had to tell the man about their son. Even after everything the man had done and even though Dongwoo believed the blond shouldn’t know, Dongwoo knew he had to tell him. Despite how much he hated Sungjong for everything he did, he was still in love with him, and Dongwoo still had a heart.

Dongwoo walked over to Sungjong’s room, knocking on his Bonded’s door. After a little while, the door opened to reveal the blond man with messy hair. The blond yawned, scratching his head and looking at Dongwoo in confusion. This was the first time in many years that Dongwoo had come to visit him. They really don’t talk unless they need to.

“Dongwoo?” Sungjong asked in confusion as the brown haired man pushed past him into the room. Sungjong frowned and closed the door. “What’s going on?”

“He’s here." Dongwoo said, closing his eyes as he sat down on Sungjong’s bed, bowing his head and tugging his hair with his hands. 

“Who’s here?” The younger man asked, sitting down next to him.

“ _ Sanha." _ Dongwoo said with a choked sob. “He’s in Prologue. I had a vision of him walking through a rundown city. He could be in Singularity. But he’s here.”

“Wait." Sungjong said with a frown. “Sanha? As in our  _ son _ Sanha?”

“Who else?” Dongwoo said loudly, looking up at him, worry written all over his face. “My boy is not safe from  _ him _ , not here.”

“What happens if he comes to Epiphany?” Sungjong asked, biting his lip nervously. “He’s going to hate me.”

“He should." Dongwoo mumbled, quiet enough so Sungjong couldn’t hear him. The brown haired man let out a deep sigh, ruffling his own hair. “If he comes here we’re going to welcome him. We’re his parents, and I’m going to introduce myself as his father because I am and that’s not going to change ever — though he’s probably going to hate me and you don’t know how much that truly kills me.”

“Dongwoo, I’m truly sorry for everything." The blond man said, looking into Dongwoo’s eyes. “I know you’ve hated me since the day we sent him away. I was selfish, I know. But we both know his safety was my top priority. That’s not the point. I’m sorry, I really am. I wish I could make this up to you.”

“Let’s not talk about this right now." Dongwoo said, standing up. “Look, right now I just care about the safety of my son. I hope he’s with good people.”

“ _ Our  _ son, Dongwoo." Sungjong corrected him. “He’s  _ our  _ son. I don’t want to go through that again. Please can we just talk this over?”

“I don’t know." Dongwoo said with a deep sigh. “I’ll see you later, Sungjong.”

* * *

 

“This is a surprise, I’ll admit. We haven’t spoken in a while.”

“I know we haven’t, brother. We haven’t spoken since you left.”

“I  _ apologised _ for that.”

“I know.”

A brief pause, then the same voice.

“You have what I sent you, right?”

“Of course I do, brother. I know you didn’t want it to disappear or break on you.”

“Are you wearing it on the bracelet?”

“Yes. Look, why are are we doing this secretly?”

“You never know who could be listening in, brother.”

“I’ll try to remember. Don’t let the full moon get to you  _ too _ much.”

“I won’t, I promise. Goodbye for now, brother.”

“We’ll talk soon, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always i will happily take requests on [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/ask) :)
> 
> cross posted on [aff](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1316850/n-a-blockb-fantasy-infinite-shinee-mythology-alternateuniverse-zelo-fairies-exo-himchan-bap-banghim-magicalrealism-jonglo-vixx-bts-rockjin-warewolves-vmin-sanha-rocky-astro-binwoo-minorcharacterdeath), [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/tagged/prologue), and [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/533000372-prologue-wonder-pt-1)
> 
> we have a new trailer for this story that you can find on AFF!!


	11. Her pt. 3

_ “JONGUP!” _

_ A door slammed shut in the distance, and the little boy cowered in the cupboard he had hidden in. He bit down on his bottom lip so he wouldn’t get found, not wanting his father to find out where he was — if he hid, and his father found him, then the beating was twice as bad. _

_ “Jongup, you worthless shit, get your ass downstairs or I’m setting the house on fire and leaving you inside!” _

_ The boy whimpered quietly, only pausing for a moment before scrambling out of the cupboard. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could and skidded to a stop in front of his father, bowing his head down. _

_ “Hello, Eomma.” Jongup said softly, and a smack filled the room as his father’s palm pressed to his cheek in one swift motion. _

_ “You do not address me as such.” The man said, and he shoved Jongup back before clearing his throat. “I’m leaving. I’m not coming back.” _

_ “But why?” Jongup asked, looking up at his father with wide eyes. The boy was usually left alone and had been alone for most of the years that had passed since after his other father’s death, but he missed his ‘eomma’ so much. “I miss you… come back home. Please.” _

_ “Fuck off.” The man said, turning over his shoulder and walking towards the front door. “I hope you die, Jongup. I may have birthed you, but you are no son of mine.” _

_ And with those words, he walked out the door, leaving a young Jongup behind forever. _

* * *

 

Sanha stared at Sungjae as everyone left the room. Soon it was just him, Minhyuk, Bin, and Sungjae sitting in the room. Sanha had a lot of questions for the man, especially because he studied a lot into the lore of fox spirits in different countries, and each country had a different legend for these creatures. Sanha had always been curious about them — they had always been one of his favorite mythological creatures.

“Can I ask you something?” Sanha directed towards Sungjae, causing the fox to nod his head. “Do you really have nine tails?”

“I can shift into my true form, yes." The fox said. “My true form has nine tails. But I can’t shift into that form unless it’s a full moon, kinda like a werewolf.”

“Werewolves don’t turn into a wolf form." Minhyuk interrupted him, causing the fox to look at him with wide eyes. “They have small changes, but they don’t turn into a full on  _ wolf _ .”

“That’s where you’re wrong." Sungjae said. Minhyuk crossed his arms and glared at him. “Do you know anything about werewolves in Prologue?”

“Yeah, I do." Minhyuk said, his voice more of a mumble as he still tried to look scary. “I’m a werewolf.”

“Well, here’s something for you to know." Sungjae said, leaning forward to look into his eyes. “They can turn into a full wolf form at will. That’s the same with fox spirits. Yes, werewolves will get the yellow eyes, fangs, and claws on a full moon, but there are some who prefer to be a ‘full on’ wolf as you say it. However, those are only werewolves that are born a werewolf, not bitten werewolves. The werewolves born as a wolf are known as purebloods. They usually hang out in a pack. I’m guessing you were bitten?”

“Yeah, I was." Minhyuk said with a sigh, standing up. “I’m a new werewolf, and of course there’s still a lot I need to learn about myself apparently.”

“Hyung." Sanha said, looking at his friend and placing his hand on his arm. “Maybe you should stay here and learn about who you are. So far, I think you’re pretty awesome. You have Guardian magic from Taehyung, and a rare form of it at that. And you are now a werewolf! You don’t need to be upset that you don’t know much about werewolves, I mean, you only just went through your first three nights, all being full moon nights. We left today without anybody really explaining to you about the whole situation.”

“I guess so." Minhyuk said with another sigh, giving his younger friend a soft smile. “But I want to talk to Bin about a couple things too. I have some questions about this Guardian magic I inherited from Taehyung and I just want to talk to him alone.”

“Taehyung, as in, the son of Minho?” Sungjae asked, causing Minhyuk to turn on him and slowly nod his head. “You’re his kid? I thought he died.”

“He did." Minhyuk said. “Before I was born.”

“I didn’t know he had a son." Sungjae said, a frown marring his features. “Though it makes sense since he was Bonded… do you know who your other parent is?”

“Yeah, of course I do." Minhyuk said with raised eyebrows. “He’s the one that brought us here. Jimin.”

“Wait, Jimin is your father?” Sungjae asked with wide eyes, glancing at Bin. “They were Bonded?”

“Minhyuk." Bin said as Sanha and Minhyuk looked at the fox with questioning eyes. “Most people don’t know that your parents were Bonded. They know that Jimin and Taehyung were close, and that’s all. But just be very careful when talking about Jimin and Taehyung. Most of the royalty in Euphoria knew because Jimin himself told them. Hakyeon grew up with Taehyung, and Jimin could trust him.”

“Well, I’m stupid." Minhyuk said, closing his eyes and biting down on his bottom his lip. “Jimin never told me that.”

“Let’s go talk." Bin said, pulling Minhyuk out of the room with a small smile directed at the other two. Sanha watched them leave before sighing and looking at Sungjae.

“Why is that kept a secret?” The younger boy asked, sitting down at the table again and glancing at Sungjae.

“There’s lots of secrets when it comes to the hierarchy for the different lands." Sungjae said. “Some people don’t know who the Guardian’s kids even are. But I think in Jimin and Taehyung’s case, well, their leadership in Serendipity isn’t really the greatest. Namjoon is against love based relationships — he always either banishes one of the pair, or he turns them into stone. So Taehyung probably had to keep his Bond hidden so that Namjoon couldn’t hurt him.”

“So if they can’t have Bonded pairs in Serendipity, how do they have kids?” Sanha asked with a frown. 

“Probably secretly." The fox said. “Some go to other lands, while others hide their Bonded. Some even have to send their kids away. From what I know with Bin’s family, Bin and his father live in Serendipity, but his other father lives somewhere else with Bin’s brother. See, Serendipity isn’t as close to corrupted as we are, but it’s pretty bad. That’s why the Spymaster set up his whole network. He’s able to connect with other people from the other lands and keep an eye out on all of Prologue. We’re all working together to end this corruption and keeping everyone updated on what’s happening in each area.”

“So that’s why Jimin sent Minhyuk away." Sanha said, causing the older man to give him a soft smile and nod his head in agreement. “To keep him safe from Namjoon.”

“Most likely." The fox replied. “So, you had questions about me?”

“Oh, right!” The younger cried, a small smile appearing on his face as well. “You were talking about how you go into full form. So you’re only able to do that at a full moon?”

“Yes." Sungjae replied, nodding his head. “But I haven’t in a very long time. With how everything is here in Singularity, I don’t want even want to risk it because that will automatically give out who I am. Very much like how a werewolf turns aggressive on the full moon, I’m the same way, and I get bloodthirsty too, so Jongup keeps me in check. He locks me up and sometimes even keeps me on a leash when we go out, but only because I asked him to do so.” 

“That sounds very complex." The young boy said, nodding his head. “I don’t know if I could handle being another creature.”

“I was born with it, so I guess it’s just second nature." Sungjae said, patting Sanha’s shoulder firmly. “You got a lot to learn, but soon you’ll be able to understand it all.”

“I like learning." Sanha said with a laugh. “Thank you for the information. Everything is just so new. I want to know more about it.”

“You’re a smart kid." Sungjae told him. “It’s good to learn new things.”

* * *

 

Minhyuk sat down in the hall with Bin, staring at his hands. He couldn’t help but feel the regret and hurt and confusion that was flowing through his veins. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do at this point. He had no idea his parents had kept their Bond a secret from most of the people in Prologue, and he hoped his slip up wasn’t going to be a huge mistake on his end. He didn’t want Jimin to get in trouble.

“Hey." Bin said, causing Minhyuk to look up at him. “You’re not in trouble, Minhyuk. Never think I’m going to be mad at you. Jimin didn’t tell you to not tell anyone about your parents. Honestly, you should be free to tell anyone who your parents are. Taehyung and Jimin wanted to tell the world about each other, but Namjoon ruined that for them. Namjoon tends to ruin a lot. Taehyung would be proud to know you’re his son. From everything Jimin and my father told me about him, you have to know he was a great guy and he was so nice to everyone. He was the God of Compassion.”

“So my parents are the God of Compassion and the God of Truth?” Minhyuk asked, a small smile appearing on his lips. “My parents both sound like really nice people. I wish I could have grown up with them, and that Taehyung wasn’t dead.”

“You would have been so happy with them." The black haired boy said, taking a hold of Minhyuk’s hand in his and squeezing it gently. “I just want you to know that Jimin loves you more than anything in this world, and he will do anything to make sure that you’re okay and that you’re happy. He was so scared when he had to bring you here to do this mission. This was the  _ last _ thing he wanted to do, but he knew it was the only thing he could do. You are his  _ world _ . He talked so much about you, as if he knew who you had grown up to be. His biggest dream was to meet you, Minhyuk. Maybe he’s not by your side right now, but he’s waiting for the day for you to finish this mission so that he can learn who you are and learn how to really be your father. His dream is for you to return as his son instead of going back to Earth. But he will understand if you want to go back.”

“I’m missing school right now, so I’m not going to graduate high school with how many days I missed." Minhyuk said, shrugging his shoulders. “No reason to go back now.”

“You know, you only missed maybe a couple hours, right?” Bin asked with a smile. “Ten years here equals a year. So it’s probably only been about 12 hours or so.”

“Meaning I’m missing school right now. It’s got to be second hour by now." Minhyuk said, shrugging his shoulders. “Meaning I’m in trouble again because I’m missing school, and I yelled at my coach at track practice, so I’m probably going to be suspended. Since we’ll be here much longer… I’ll probably be expelled or not able to graduate. Unless, you know, Seokjin says something about that. But Seokjin doesn’t know I’m here.”

“He probably will find out." Bin said, giving him a small smile. “He’s smart. Despite him being on Earth and being mortal, his fatherly bond with Himchan will never go away. He will know.”

“But he doesn’t know the rest of us are from here." Minhyuk said with a frown.

“He’ll know soon enough, if he doesn’t already. Your father will probably reach out to him some way." Bin said. He stared at Minhyuk for a while, waiting for the other to talk. Minhyuk, on the other hand, was trying to gather his thoughts. He had so many questions about himself, about who he was and what everything really meant. He chewed on his bottom lip, looking down at his lap.

“I just don’t understand." The younger boy said, looking back up at his new friend. “I don’t even know how to be a werewolf much less the son of two gods.”

“Minhyuk, just because you are a werewolf doesn’t mean you have to know how to be one right away." Bin said with a soft chuckle, placing his hand on his back and rubbing slow circles. “A lot of bitten werewolves have the same issue. But I can understand if it’s scary or confusing. Especially for you, who didn’t even grow up in this world. There are a lot of things you don’t know about this world, and I get that.”

“It’s a weird situation." Minhyuk said, admitting his thoughts with a deep sigh. “What’s funny is when I found a book about this world, I believed it didn’t exist. I never believed in magic or werewolves or really anything. I always knew I had a family, so I didn’t want to be adopted, but I also believed I wouldn’t get to meet them. In just a few days, my whole life changed. And even though I don’t believe in magic, here I am, the son of two gods in this magical world; one who is even the son of a Guardian! I’m apparently a magic user as well, and then suddenly there’s werewolves and nymphs and sirens and  _ whatever _ and then it ends with be being turned into a werewolf.”

“Change is always weird, especially when it’s something you never believed would happen." The older man said, looking at the wall in front of them. “I remember when I was living in Serendipity before I met Dongmin. I believed I would  _ never _ find my Other Half. Then my father explained to me that I wouldn’t until I was a hundred and eighty years old. I found him at one hundred, eighty-five years.”

“How old are you now?” Minhyuk asked him, his head tilted to the side in curiosity.

“I’m one hundred, ninety-two right now." Bin said with a smile. “Dongmin is two hundred, one right now. He’s about to have our baby in a few weeks. I never even allowed myself to imagine that I would become a father. I’m so happy to have a family of my own.”

“That’s something else I don’t understand." Minhyuk said, causing Bin’s eyes to widen as he turned back to look at the other. Minhyuk bit his lip, gathering his thoughts so he could continue. “On Earth, men don’t get pregnant. They  _ can’t _ , there’s no physical way for them to. And a lot of people look down on… gay couples.”

“Gay?” Bin said with raised eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“You know, where one guy is with the other guy." Minhyuk said. “Like how my dad was with Taehyung. Or how you’re with Dongmin. On Earth, a lot of people prefer a girl with a guy. Though it’s not unheard of men to date each other. I know plenty of gay couples, like Seokjin and Junghwan for instance. I myself like girls and —”

“Minhyuk, here in Prologue, love doesn’t have a gender." Bin said, interrupting him. “Your Other Half comes to you, very much like how Junhong was pulled to Jongup tonight. That’s how we find our Other Halves. That’s a bond that you can’t break. I mean death can break the bond and black magic, but I’ve never seen a bond break through black magic. It’s just a theory.”

“So we don’t date other people?” Minhyuk asked with a frown. “When you find the  _ one _ then you’re automatically with them?”

“Pretty much." Bin said, nodding his head. “When people become of age, sometimes they adventure out of their land to find their Other Half if they haven’t found them yet. Some people wait for years until they’re ready to be Bonded. I only found Dongmin because the Spymaster sent me on a mission to Euphoria to work with Hakyeon. That’s when I was pulled to Dongmin. People have coupled with other people, but they weren’t Bonded. You can only be Bonded to your Other Half.”

“So was Seokjin Bonded to someone up here? Because like, it’s impossible for a man to have a child on Earth." Minhyuk asked, frowning slightly. 

“He met Junghwan on Earth, but they were Bonded here by Jonghyun." Bin answered. “And Seokjin probably had Himchan here before they both decided to move to Earth. After the birth of Himchan is when Seokjin descended from his throne, from what my father told me. If it’s impossible on Earth, it’s probably the world’s magic that lets whichever gender have a child here in Prologue. Our world is what magically connects us together.”

“Will I ever be Bonded to someone?” Minhyuk said, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall. 

“You will, I’m sure of it." Bin said with a smile. “They’re out there somewhere.”

* * *

 

“We’re running out of time, I fear.”

Junhong blinked in surprise before turning around to face Jjong again, not even realising he had fallen asleep until he saw the shorter man’s wide smile. A frown appeared on the younger man’s lips, and he fidgeted nervously under the brown eyed gaze.

“Running out of time?” Junhong asked, looking at the other with wide eyes. Jjong just smiled sadly and stopped once he was in front of the younger, reaching up with both hands to hold his face.

“You really do look like him.” Jjong said, sniffling quietly as he pulled Junhong forward. Slightly startled but allowing himself to be moved, the curly haired man wrapped his arms around Jjong’s shoulders and held him close. Jjong instantly collapsed into Junhong’s chest, strong arms winding around his waist as the shorter of the two shook with heavy sobs.

“Do you…” Junhong started, swallowing heavily as he leaned his head down to press his face into Jjong’s blond hair. “Do you mean Jinki? Do you mean that I look like Jinki?” He wasn’t sure if he was ready to hear the answer to his question, but either way he was getting it as Jjong looked up at him with a nod.

“You smile just like him, my love.” Jjong said, letting go of Junhong to wipe away his tears under his thick framed glasses. Without thinking, the younger man reached up to wipe them away for him, the two of them sharing a smile.

“Does… does that mean you’re Jonghyun?” Junhong said, his heart slowly filling with hope as Jjong grabbed onto his hands and squeezed tightly.

“ _ Yes _ , yes I’m Jonghyun.” He said, looking down at their joined hands. Junhong could see the faded bond mark on his finger, but that was ignored as Jonghyun locked gazes with him once again. “My Bonded is Jinki, and you’re our baby boy, our  _ sweet _ baby boy.”

“Really?” Junhong said, his voice cracking as he looked down at Jonghyun. “You’re my eomma?”

“Yes.” Jonghyun said, letting out a burst of soft laughter as tears continued to stream down his cheeks. Junhong could feel his own eyes welling up with tears, his heart about to burst with how happy he was. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, I’m sorry my love.”

“Please don’t apologise.” Junhong said, laughing himself as he pulled Jonghyun back into his arms. Jonghyun easily went, falling into his strong embrace as they slotted together. “You did what you had to so I could stay alive, thank you.”

“I just wish I could have seen you grow up.” Jonghyun said, voice muffled from where his face was pressed up against Junhong’s chest. “My, how big you’ve grown. You’re even taller than your father!”

“I noticed.” Junhong said, sniffling softly as he wiped his own wet cheeks (he hadn’t even realised that he had started to cry, and it would have been embarrassing in other circumstances with the others around).

“You need to go.” Jonghyun said, pulling away and looking up at Junhong with pure adoration in his eyes. “My son, my beautiful baby boy. You’ve made me so proud already.” The curly haired boy nodded once and wiped Jonghyun’s tears away, and the shorter man grabbed his hand with a growing smile. “You’ve found your Bonded… listen to me, Junhongie. Keep them close, okay? Form this Bond with them and love them with  _ everything _ you are, because it’s truly a gift.”

“I will.” Junhong said, his grin already growing on his lips as he thought of Jongup.

“I love you, be safe.” Jonghyun said, kissing Junhong’s knuckles as he started to fade away. “Everything happens for a reason, and I know that you are strong enough to get through everything that comes to you.”

With those cryptic words, Junhong’s eyes fluttered open to the sight of Jongup staring down at him from his spot on the bed beside him, and the curly haired man smiled slightly.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” He asked, his voice rough and raspy from his nap. Jongup shook his head and lowered his head to press their foreheads together, a tattooed hand coming up to rest comfortably on the pale skin of Junhong’s neck.

“You’re beautiful.” He said in answer, and Junhong’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered Jonghyun’s words from the dream — to keep his Bonded close and to treasure their Bond. So instead of responding to the compliment, the blond leaned forward to capture Jongup’s lips in a gentle kiss.

It was like a wave of emotions flooding into Junhong’s very being, his own spilling out to merge with Jongup’s until they were connected in every way. Underneath his own heartbeat, he could feel the blue haired man’s syncing with his until they were beating as one, their lips moving together as they held onto each other tightly. Both of his arms slid around Jongup’s waist comfortably, the two of them pressed together from head to toe as they pulled away from the kiss.

Wondering, Junhong lifted up his left hand to see a trail of red, smokey whisps winding around his ring finger, the colour fading to nothing about halfway up. The mark slowly darkened until it was a blood red around his finger, and Jongup lifted his hand up to show off the same pattern underneath his black tattoos on his own finger.

“You’re going to be stuck with me for the rest of eternity.” Junhong said, his heart fluttering as Jongup let out a quiet giggle.

“I think I can handle that.” He said in response, leaning back down to kiss his Other Half once again.

Junhong’s heart felt so  _ full _ for the first time, and he knew that nothing could get better than this.

(Or it could, when they cemented the bond  _ multiple _ times that night, and Junhong found himself wishing that all the bruises left by Jongup on his skin could stay there forever.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always i will happily take requests on [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/ask) :)
> 
> cross posted on [aff](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1316850/n-a-blockb-fantasy-infinite-shinee-mythology-alternateuniverse-zelo-fairies-exo-himchan-bap-banghim-magicalrealism-jonglo-vixx-bts-rockjin-warewolves-vmin-sanha-rocky-astro-binwoo-minorcharacterdeath), [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/tagged/prologue), and [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/533000372-prologue-wonder-pt-1)


	12. Her pt. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm totally late w this chapter i apologise, i jsut started a new job and it doesn't make me wanna throw myself off of the roof of my house so it's been crazy.
> 
> anyways hope you enjoy!

_ “You’re finally getting Bonded. How do you feel?” _

_ “I’m terrified.” _

_ Taeil swallowed heavily as he looked between his two triplets, Boyoung cradling her stomach with a gentle smile and Minseok practically fluttering about the room to pick up the mess that Taeil had left behind. He looked down at his hands where his tattoos were swirling a purple-pink, a telling sign of both his love for his Other Half and his nervousness for the coming Bonding Ceremony. _

_ “Don’t be, Tae.” Boyoung said in a soft voice, reaching out to place her hand over Taeil’s. The youngest triplet smiled as he looked at the familiar contrast of her light pink skin against his light blue, and a light green hand gripped onto their joined hands as Minseok went over to them. _

_ “Jaehyo  _ loves _ you, brother.” Minseok said, reaching up to run his fingers through Taeil’s wavy brown hair. “He loves you so,  _ so _ much. You’re going to be taken care of.” _

_ “We’ve never met in person though.” Taeil said, his voice wavering, and the two others slid their arms around his tiny waist as they curled up into him. “What if — what if he sees my blue skin and decides that we’re not for each other?” _

_ “He’s not going to think that.” Boyoung said, pressing her lips to Taeil’s cheek. His skin sizzled with the heat of hers, the colder temperature of his body naturally trying to ward anybody off as he was so nervous. “He’s going to love your skin colour, and your tattoos, and your dorky laugh whenever you find something funny.” _

_ “I hope so.” Taeil said, looking up as their parents entered the small hut. _

_ “My youngest is getting Bonded today, I’m so happy.” Kyuhyun said, letting go of Ryeowook to come forward and take Taeil’s face in his bright yellow hands. “We’re all ready, just waiting on you now.” _

_ “Your eomma’s not ready to let you go, so take your time.” Ryeowook said as he grinned widely, coming over to ruffle Taeil’s unruly hair. _

_ “I think I’m ready.” Taeil said, gripping onto his triplets’ hands tightly. The three of them stood up together, and Minseok and Boyoung led Taeil out of the hut. _

_ The path to the clearing underneath the castle had been adorned with beautiful flowers, creatures of all species standing in line to watch as Taeil walked down with his triplets. This time, the turnout was much bigger, the creatures happy and crying as their King was finally becoming Bonded. _

_ It didn’t take long for the break in the trees to grow, and Taeil looked to his right to see the other royals of Euphoria standing there in their finest outfits. Wonshik looked more regal than ever, wearing the golden crown that signified his status as the High King, with Taekwoon and Jooheon flanking him. Jaehwan stood there holding the hand of his son, Youngjae, and Sanghyuk stood beside him with a proud grin. While his parents were taking their place beside Wonshik, Taeil caught the eye of Heeyeon and Hoseok, two sirens who were siblings and had become Taeil’s closest friends (they were also the royals from the Siren Kingdom below, but Taeil didn’t like to talk about their responsibilities as royals). Minseok’s Other Half, Baekhyun, was standing there with his eighty-one year old son, Daehyun, the boy’s skin changing from a pale yellow to a gentle pink when he saw his uncle looking at him. Next to Baekhyun was Boyoung’s Other Half, Hyungsik, a handsome human who had come from Earth and never left, instead choosing to spend the rest of his life with Boyoung and their daughters (who Boyoung was pregnant with right now — twins, healer Zitao had said when he came up from the sea to check on her, and the two were overjoyed). _

_ To the left, as he turned his head, he could see the familiar faces of Minhyuk and Yukwon, a Bonded pair of born werewolves who had introduced Taeil to Jaehyo through a series of letters. Beside them, Taeil saw a small brunet man with soft white cat ears standing next to a much taller man with bright red hair, and he could assume that these were the friends that Jaehyo had mentioned in his last letter. The smaller man would be a cat hybrid — uncommon for anywhere but Singularity — and the taller man looked to be human (but with the way he carried himself and the flash of dark red in his eyes, Taeil could assume that this was the elusive vampire friend that Jaehyo had mentioned a few times — Jihoon, his name was, a pirate who came onto land every so often with the permission of his Captain Zico to visit his friends). _

_ Finally, looking forward, Taeil met the dark eyes of what he assumed was Jaehyo, and his heart skipped a beat. The other man was tall with soft brown hair laying in gentle waves on his head, his lips a light pink and the ceremonial robes hanging on his body just right to show the muscles in his arms (while Taeil was aware that with his strength, he could probably bench press Jaehyo without breaking a sweat, he didn’t doubt that Jaehyo could just as easily do the same). _

_ Boyoung and Minseok bowed respectfully to Jiyong, who was conducting the ceremony, the three of them sharing a familiar smile before the triplets let go of Taeil’s hand. Taeil was at a loss on what to do, having never experienced this part of the Bonding Ceremony himself, but Jiyong gently pulled him forward to link his hands with Jaehyo’s, and a tingle ran through Taeil’s spine at the physical contact (was it normal to already feel the Bond starting to form?). _

_ “As you all know, Bonding with your Other Half for a fairy, nymph, or siren is different. Because of our heightened magic, we can feel our Other Half through their belongings or other things they have touched.” Jiyong said, offering an explanation to the people who had never experienced a Bonding Ceremony like this before. It seemed as though Jaehyo’s friends were the only ones who had needed the explanation, and there were no questions from their crowd. “Wonderful. Now, let me tell the story of the couple in front of me.” _

_ This part Taeil remembered, and he could feel his cheeks getting colder as they flushed a dark blue from his embarrassment. Probably feeling the temperature change in his hands, Jaehyo rubbed his thumbs along Taeil’s knuckles, giving him a wide grin. _

_ God, that smile was  _ beautiful _. _

_ “These two met through our good werewolf friends Minhyuk and Yukwon.” Jiyong said, gesturing over to the other two, and the people around them laughed and cheered as they both bowed simultaneously. “They’ve been exchanging letters for almost five years without meeting, and today is the first day they have met.” _

_ “What can I say? I wanted to properly court him.” Jaehyo said, bringing Taeil’s hands up to kiss his knuckles, and his tattoos turned a bright pink from his embarrassment as the others cooed around them. _

_ “And today, I get the honour to oversee their Bonding.” Jiyong said, reaching out to run his fingers through Taeil’s in a loving gesture. “Little brother, you’re the baby of the family, and you are the last of us to become Bonded. I am proud to have watched you fall in love with him.” _

_ “Thank you.” Taeil said, his voice wavering as Jiyong let him go. _

_ “I can see the love in your eyes, both of you.” Jiyong said, his voice raising as he finished his part. “Now, I’ll stop talking. Jaehyo, Taeil, you two may now kiss, and form your Bond.” _

_ With the cheering of the crowd filling his pointed ears, Taeil tilted his head up to look at Jaehyo. The taller man grinned widely and let go of his hands to slide long arms around Taeil’s waist, pulling their bodies together. Their lips connected in a passionate kiss, and the fairy’s blue hands came up to hold his face. Everything melted away around them as they were solely focused on each other, their souls joining together in their Bond. _

_ “I love you, Taeil.” Jaehyo said when they broke the kiss, pressing their foreheads together in a loving gesture. The fairy wanted to let go of his Other Half to look at their bond mark, curious as to what form it would take, but he ignored it in favour of staring up at his now Bonded with a wide grin. _

_ “I love you too, Jaehyo.” _

* * *

 

Minhyuk made his way down the stairs to the same room that they had arrived in the night before, waking up not long before. He was wearing an all black outfit with a hood covering his head. He had barely any sleep, so he didn’t know how he was going to make it through the day. All he could think about was who he was at that moment. He kept thinking about his parents and what it would be like if he could’ve grown up with them. He also kept thinking about what the Spy Network actually was — he had never been able to trust a source he knew nothing about. Suddenly, there’s this ‘Spymaster’ who was running this whole network to pretty much spy on the whole world. This world seemed to trust the Spymaster, but Minhyuk couldn’t.

There was other reasons why Minhyuk wasn’t able to sleep, but he would rather leave those reasons unsaid. He was practically scarred for life, considering his room was right next door to a certain couple’s room. This caused him to drag his feet all the way over to the dining room. When he made it, he realized everyone else was already seated around a table. Minhyuk just grunted and sat down between Sanha and Jongup. The whole group turned to look at him, but Minhyuk just ignored them, looking down at his bowl of food. The food looked like brown noodles, causing Minhyuk to bite his lip and look over at Sanha, who had already finished half his bowl.

“What is this?” Minhyuk asked, pushing the bowl away.

“It’s good, hyung." Sanha said, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be so picky. We’re not on Earth anymore, you know, food here isn’t exactly the same as it is there.”

“I’ve noticed." Minhyuk said, glancing at Sungjae, who seemed to be eating raw meat. “Is that… is that raw? What are you eating?”

“It’s a heart. Of a human." Sungjae told him, causing Minhyuk to gag and push his food away further on the table, his appetite now completely gone.

“Hey, he needs to eat somehow." Sanha said, shrugging his shoulders. 

“You’re a werewolf, so raw meat shouldn’t be too bad for you." Sungjae said with a small chuckle. “Kumihos eat raw meat. I’m sorry if it grosses you out. I can control my urges though, unlike other bloodthirsty beasts.”

“See hyung, he’s a good guy." Sanha said excitedly, causing Minhyuk to nod his head and look at everyone else. Jongup and Junhong were practically cuddled together, hickies all down the former’s neck. Minhyuk gagged again, remembering the sounds and banging he had heard the night before. With a deep sigh, he turned and looked at Youngjae, Himchan, and Bin. Bin and Youngjae were discussing something together, while Himchan had a troubled look in his eyes. He looked up when Minhyuk wouldn’t stop looking at him.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” Minhyuk asked, causing Himchan to give him a small smile and shake his head. 

“You’ve been acting weird since last night." Youngjae stated, catching everyone’s attention. “You said something about needing to talk to Jongup? But then you just went to bed.”

“Right." Himchan said with a deep sigh, glancing around at everyone. Minhyuk kept his eye on him, wondering what was on his mind. “So, Block B contacted me last night. More like, abducted me? I don’t know if they used some sort of magic or whatever, but I wasn’t present here. Apparently I was still in the room, because Youngjae didn’t seem too phased.”

“Jiho." Jongup said in explanation, nodding his head once. “He’s known as the Trickster, since he’s the only one alive who knows that form of magic. He’s good with illusions and hypnotism, that sort of thing. What did they tell you?”

“They said they wanted us to overthrow the Priestesses because they’re controlling them." Himchan said. “They also said something about how the Priestesses know about the voices? And that they will stop at nothing to take the two of them? That’s what I’m trying to understand.”

Jongup paled, causing Minhyuk to frown at him in confusion. He himself didn’t understand what the ‘voices’ were and why it seemed to trigger the older man. Minhyuk exchanged glances with Sanha, not sure of what to say. Bin and Sungjae also seemed to go quiet after that, apparently knowing something that everyone else didn’t. Minhyuk wanted to speak up, but he knew there was nothing he could say that would even help anyone with whatever was going on.

“It looks like we need to get working on this as soon as possible, to keep everyone safe." Jongup said, causing Minhyuk to frown deeply. He glanced at Bin once again, who was shaking his head.

“Jongup, we can’t work on this yet." Bin said. “Jimin sent us on a certain mission that we need to complete first. We will work on overthrowing the Priestesses, but we don’t have the time.”

“Why?” Himchan asked, crossing his arms and frowning at Bin. “Why should it matter what order we do it in?”

“Because." Bin said, standing up and turning away from them. “If we don’t find MJ, we can’t defeat Namjoon. And if we don’t defeat Namjoon, then my father is in trouble.”

“What do you mean?” Minhyuk said with a frown, also standing up and walking over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Jimin sent me a message last night." Bin said. “We’ve been sending messages back and forth to keep each other updated. And Namjoon… Namjoon believes my father is the Spymaster because I’m his son, and my father is wrongly blamed. Namjoon is out to kill my father, and the Spymaster sent him away to live with the rest of my family in hiding. If we don’t defeat Namjoon soon, then my father will be found.”

“We can’t change the mission around." Sungjae said, agreeing with the guide. “Agents of the spy network stick together. We need to help Jungkook. You guys should continue with your search for MJ.”

“Yes, let’s find MJ and we’ll figure everything out from there." Jongup said. “I’ve been trying to help Block B get out of their control, but I can’t do it on my own. I also can’t go against a Spy Network mission, and this one will admittedly be much easier than helping Block B first.”

“So how the hell are we supposed to find whoever this MJ is?” Himchan asked, looking angry that they weren’t going along with what he wanted. Minhyuk frowned at him before turning on Bin as well.

“I honestly don’t know." Bin said with a deep sigh. “I know that he’s here in Singularity, but that’s all I know on his whereabouts. He’s apparently Namjoon’s son, but that’s all the information I have on him as a whole. I’m not sure what we’re going to do to find him.”

“You only know his name is MJ?’ Jongup asked, causing everyone to nod their heads. “I can find people with just their name, but I don’t know if I can find it with just MJ.”

“I don’t know either." Minhyuk said with a sigh, walking back over to his seat and plopping down. He took his mirror and Dongmin’s crystal shard out of his pocket, holding tightly onto the mirror. “How are we supposed to find MJ?”

“Hyung." Sanha said, pointing at Minhyuk’s hand. “You’re bleeding.”

Minhyuk frowned and looked down at his hand, which was indeed bleeding after he had taken a hold of the mirror. He dropped the mirror to look at his hand, only to reveal a family crest on the reflection of the mirror. This caused Jongup to pick up the mirror and examine it, watching images going by on the mirror. Minhyuk also stared at the mirror in shock. He wasn’t sure what was going on, and he was pretty sure that this wasn’t something that was supposed to happen.

“I know where to find MJ." Jongup said. “His name is Myungjun, and his father is not Namjoon.”

“Really?” Minhyuk said, just as his blood mark started glowing brightly. He looked down at the mark with wide eyes, his mind filling with confusion. “What’s going on?”

“I think you activated your blood mark." Jongup said, his dark gaze also drawn to the now dimming blood mark. “I think… I think you and Myungjun share the same blood.”

* * *

 

Junhong’s thoughts were more on Himchan’s side when it came to what they had to do. He didn’t like the idea of having to leave a corrupt land to go fix another, liking things to be in the proper order. The conversation had been left aside for the moment as Minhyuk’s blood mark had glowed, but it instantly turned back to finding MJ again.

“You can’t just go out into the streets  _ blindly _ looking for him!” Jongup said, his voice raising to a shout as he looked across the table at a steaming Bin.

“The sooner we find him, the better.” Bin said, his voice calm but firm as he looked at the elder man with a glare. “My father will die if we don’t do this.”

“Children have already died at the hands of the Priestesses,  _ multiple _ times.” Jongup said, crossing his tattooed arms and letting out a loud huff of breath. “Children who deserved to live, children who didn’t do a single thing wrong but were killed just for existing. And you want to ignore all of that to save one man?”

“Enough.” Junhong said, not moving from his seat as his voice carried through the room loudly. It was enough for everyone to wince slightly, none of them ignoring the warning that came with the frequency the blond’s voice had rung out in. “I get it, finding MJ is important. Fixing the corruption here is just as important, though. I propose that we find MJ first, because Jongup knows him. But once he’s found, Bin can take him to Serendipity and we can stay here to help overthrow the Priestesses.”

“Split up?” Bin said, his eye twitching as he looked across the table at Junhong. “Jimin told me  _ protect _ you, Junhong.”

“I have a Bonded who can do that.” Junhong said, crossing his arms. “Himchan has your crystal shard, and we have Dongmin’s, so we really don’t need you here to help us with this part. We’ll find MJ, you’ll go back to Serendipity with him to defeat Namjoon, and then you can go back to Dongmin in Euphoria to be with him as he has your child.”

“While you all discuss this, I’m going to contact MJ and get him to come here.” Jongup said, running his fingers through Junhong’s curly hair gently before slipping out the door.

“Did you forget the number one rule, hyung?” Sanha said, his voice cracking slightly as he looked at Junhong. “Don’t split up the party! That’s the first thing you taught me, and bad things always happen if you split up the party.”

“This isn’t a  _ fucking _ game, Sanha!” Himchan said, slamming his hands on the table and looking at the younger boy with an unreadable look in his eyes. “These are people’s lives at stake. There are three members of Block B who are counting on us to overthrow the Priestesses and get them out of their control, and they each have a Bonded we need to save. One of them is already dead, and the other two who were taken could die if we’re not fast enough.”

“I know that! But I’m scared that if we try to help them, one of us is going to die. And I can’t lose you guys, you’re my  _ family _ .” Sanha said, his bottom lip quivering as he tried to stand tall under the elder’s shouting. “I just want to fix this corruption and go home.”

“We are home.” Minhyuk said after being silent during the argument, a resolve in his eyes as he looked at the younger. “We’ll find MJ, we’ll get rid of the corruption, and we’ll be safe.”

“You don’t understand, hyung.” Sanha whispered, taking a few steps away from the table with his long arms wrapped around himself. “This isn’t home, not for me. I just want to be a normal kid, one who goes to school and does homework and goes to sleep knowing that I’m safe. I miss Seokjin and Junghwan, I miss my friends.”

“You’ll make new ones.” Himchan said firmly, and Junhong could tell that as much as the elder man loved his parents, he couldn’t feel that he  _ belonged _ there. The blond felt the same way, but he also understood why Sanha wanted to go back. The youngest of the four had always been the most emotional, and this change was certainly overwhelming.

“You can stay here if you want, hyung.” Sanha said, and the banshee could see that his eyes were suspiciously wet as he continued backing up until he hit the wall. “But I’m going to fix this and then go back home. I don’t need an older brother anyway.”

That was as much of a ‘fuck you’ as Sanha could manage without actually saying the words, and Junhong watched as the younger boy ran out of the room. Sungjae made his excuses and slipped out after Sanha, presumably to make sure that the orange haired boy was okay. Jongup walked into the room then, looking around at everyone who was left and letting out a heavy sigh.

“MJ’s on his way.” Jongup said, rounding the table to sit beside Junhong. A tattooed hand rested on his thigh, and the blond instantly threaded their fingers together as he took in a deep breath to calm himself down. “I should let you know now, Bin and Minhyuk, since you two will most likely be doing all the talking — he’s very skittish. He was blood claimed by Taehyung after Namjoon killed his father, but that’s all I will tell you. He’s older than me by nine years, but I practically raised him, so I will not hesitate to hurt you if you hurt him.”

“Understood.” Bin said, sitting down as well, and Junhong let out a quiet sigh. His throat burned from the slight use of his powers earlier, and he hoped that the pain would fade away the more he used the ability.

“Are you okay?” Jongup asked into his ear, and the banshee nodded as he turned to look at his Other Half.

“Fine. Just not used to being a banshee.” Junhong said just as quietly, bringing a hand up to rub his throat for a moment. He knew that the sweater he had brought from Euphoria did barely anything to cover the marks Jongup left on his neck, but he hadn’t cared that morning when he put it on.

“It’ll take time, but you’ll get used to it.” Jongup said with a smile, squeezing his hand for a moment before looking up as the door opened. A man of shorter stature peeked in with caramel coloured hair, and as he stepped inside, Junhong’s eyes were instantly drawn to the blood mark on full display on his arm.

“You called me?” The man said, and Jongup grinned widely as he motioned to the few empty chairs around them.

“Please, sit.” Jongup said, and the man hesitated for a moment before sinking into a chair that was right by the door. Youngjae offered him a small smile from next to him, holding out his hand in greeting.

“Youngjae, siren.” He said, and the strange man immediately reached out to clasp his forearm in a greeting that Junhong recognised was native to Euphoria.

“MJ.” Junhong said, and the man turned his head to look at the banshee with wide eyes.

“Yes.” MJ said, letting go of Youngjae’s arm and placing both hands on the table hesitantly. “But please, call me Myungjun.”

* * *

 

Ilhoon glanced around the neighborhood, searching for the house that Jinki had told him about. He nervously repositioned the cap on his head before making his way over to the house. He found a man sitting on the porch with a phone to his ear, which caused Ilhoon to stop and wait for the man to finish up. He glanced around the place only to notice that it was quiet  but extremely different from where he was from.

“Yes sir." The man who was on the phone said. “Park Minhyuk and Yoon Sanha won’t be coming in. There was a family emergency and our family had to leave town… yes, I’m aware of what Minhyuk said to the coach and I do apologize for that. He’ll be back as soon as we get back. I — you can’t suspend him, he’s a month away from graduation! That’s —”

“Seokjin, sir." Ilhoon said, stepping up to him and bowing once. Even though the other man had stepped down from his position and became mortal, he was still a figure of authority to Ilhoon. Seokjin looked up at him with wide eyes before sighing and turning his attention back to the phone call he was on.

“Okay sir, I understand." Seokjin said with a sigh. “Look, I have to go. The doctor is calling me into the room.”

Seokjin ended the call before standing up, sliding his phone into his pocket. He wiped his hands on his jeans before going into the house, waving for Ilhoon to follow. Ilhoon nodded his head in understanding and followed Seokjin into his house, looking around curiously. When they made it inside, they found Seokjin’s Bonded, Junghwan, sitting at the table with a book. He looked up at them with wide eyes.

“What’s going on?” Junghwan asked as Seokjin led Ilhoon to the table. He offered the younger a seat, which he gratefully took.

“I was sent by Jimin and Jinki." Ilhoon said, causing the other two to exchange glances. “Jimin told me to inform you that he has the boys. You of course know that Himchan is a _dimi_ , but so are the other three who were in your care. Everything in Prologue has gotten a lot worse over the years you’ve been gone, so both Jinki and Jimin decided together that it was time to fix it. They brought the four to Prologue because they were the only ones that could. With Himchan, he has your wit and problem solving capabilities. Junhong, well, we’re almost positive he’s your brother’s son. Bin, Jungkook’s son, has informed Jimin that Junhong is a banshee. So he’s the son of two guardians and he’s a banshee, which helps our case. Sanha, well, with his love for knowledge, Jimin is positive he’s a child from Epiphany, and his smarts will help in the long run. Minhyuk is the son of Jimin and Taehyung, so you probably will understand Jimin’s reasoning for bringing him to Prologue. Minhyuk’s all he has left.”

“I never imagined Minhyuk was my best friend’s son." Seokjin said with a deep sigh. “Didn’t Taehyung die around the same time Minhyuk was born?”

“Before." Ilhoon answered his question, nodding his head once. “Jimin told me to inform you that the boys are safe. They’re in Singularity right now, but they should be getting to Serendipity soon. They’re ready to take out Namjoon before it gets worse.”

“How are they going to do that?” Seokjin asked, causing Ilhoon to frown. “The only one who had the power to do so was Taehyung. I don’t think even Minhyuk can do so.”

“They said someone named MJ." Ilhoon told him. “Apparently he’s Namjoon’s son.”

“Let me tell you something, Ilhoon." Seokjin said, looking into his eyes. “Pass this information to Jimin as well. Whoever MJ is, he’s not Namjoon’s son. Namjoon doesn’t have a son. I know, because Namjoon killed his own Bonded years before he came to Serendipity. As the person who Namjoon thought he was closest to, he told me he would rather die than have his own kid. So he’s lying to everyone if he says that MJ was his kid. He could be magically bonded to him, but whatever you guys are doing, you’re going down the wrong path.”

“So if MJ isn’t his son, how are they supposed to defeat Namjoon?” Ilhoon said with wide eyes, causing Seokjin to give him a small smile and shake his head.

“I don’t know what to tell you there." Seokjin said. “I think it’s time that Jimin contacted Baekhyun. Him and Taehyung were twins, so there has to be something Baekhyun can do. I don’t know otherwise. But just… good luck.”

“That just throws everything off course." Ilhoon said, biting his lip. “Well, I’ll relay this information to him.”

“Do you know how the boys are doing?” Seokjin asked quickly, before Ilhoon could go.

“I know they’re doing well." Ilhoon said, standing up and giving the couple a soft bow. “I also heard Minhyuk was turned into a werewolf, but I don’t know anything otherwise.”

“Thank you, Ilhoon." Seokjin said, leading him to the door. “Give everyone my regards. If you see Himchan, please tell him that we love him and that we’re extremely proud of him.”

“I will." Ilhoon said, bowing again. “It was nice meeting you.”

* * *

 

Taeil looked up at himself in the mirror on the ceiling, his small body stretched out on the rose coloured chaise. When Jiho had brought the boy into their lair in an illusion, the fairy had been okay. But now, his tattoos were black with none of their characteristic stars showing, and his skin had darkened a few shades of blue until he wasn’t looking like himself anymore.

Ever since Jaehyo had been taken by the Priestesses, Taeil had been on edge as he wondered what would happen to his Bonded. But when Yukwon lost Minhyuk, having been Bonded for over a hundred years, the fairy was beginning to lose hope. He didn’t want to lose his Other Half… not when Jaehyo had barely gotten to spend time with his son.

“Eomma?” A quiet voice said, and Taeil turned his head to watch his currently black skinned son walk into the room. Taeil held out an arm, and the boy crawled into his arms and curled up into his chest.

“You should be asleep right now, Seokwon.” He said softly, pressing blue lips to his son’s forehead, and Taeil watched with a gentle smile as the pitch black of his skin lightened to a beautiful yellow colour, the young fairy feeling content now that he was curled into him.

“I couldn’t fall asleep, eomma. I felt restless.” Seokwon said, and Taeil sighed quietly as they curled against each other.

Fairy children could usually feel their parents’ emotions, no matter how far away they were from their parents. Seokwon was only half-fairy, Jaehyo being human, but he could still reach out and look for Jaehyo’s emotions if he so chose to.

“Was it my fault?” Taeil asked, burying his face into the soft brown hair on Seokwon’s hair (a trait he got from Jaehyo, along with those expressive eyes and the lanky build. Taeil could already tell that his son was going to be taller than him, but he didn’t mind it whatsoever).

“Eomma, you know that I don’t pay attention to your emotions anymore.” Seokwon said, fiddling with the red bowtie around Taeil’s neck. “I want to keep feeling appa’s. I wish that I could help him, because he hasn’t been able to sleep well lately.”

“You know you shouldn’t keep doing that, baby.” Taeil said, sitting up on the chaise with Seokwon in his lap. “You’re going to worry yourself sick, and eomma’s done that enough for the both of us. Now come on, I’ll read you a bedtime story. Tomorrow you get to play with Uncle Jongup, remember?”

“Uncle Jiho said that he found his Other Half!” Seokwon said, and Taeil was glad that they were under the mirror as his son blurted that out loudly. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

“That’s great baby, but remember, you can’t say that when you’re out there.” Taeil said, reminding him gently, and the yellow-skinned fairy nodded once with a sheepish grin before standing up. “You run along to get the book you want me to read out loud, okay? Eomma will follow right behind you.”

As Seokwon ran out of the room, the blue skinned fairy watched him for a moment, closing his eyes. Reaching for the Bond that he shared with Jaehyo, he sent a burst of affection and love through it, hoping that it would help his Other Half rest that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always i will happily take requests on [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/ask) :)
> 
> cross posted on [aff](https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1316850/n-a-blockb-fantasy-infinite-shinee-mythology-alternateuniverse-zelo-fairies-exo-himchan-bap-banghim-magicalrealism-jonglo-vixx-bts-rockjin-warewolves-vmin-sanha-rocky-astro-binwoo-minorcharacterdeath), [tumblr](https://rozalty.tumblr.com/tagged/prologue), and [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/533000372-prologue-wonder-pt-1)

**Author's Note:**

> lemme know how you guys like this :)


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